happiness can save your life: The Save Your Life Project

Is happiness like to a bolt of lightning, striking haphazardly when you least expect it? Or can it be controlled, even created?

I think the latter is true. I've done it. I also think I can teach you to do the same. I am beginning the Save Your Life Project as an experiment to see if I'm right. Also as a kind of testing ground for the book I'm writing, naturally entitled Happiness Can Save Your Life.

Here's the story: I have written all my life. Poems and essays and a novel and a half. Also massive quantities of journals. I have a banana box stuffed full of them, from strange little horsey girl musings I wrote when I was eight, to a 300 page travelogue about a 10,000mile odyssey with a folksinger boyfriend and two big dogs in a 1982 Toyota Corolla. Not unusual, I know.

But then, pretty recently, I had this two-by-four to the head realization. What was actually happening, if I did it right, was that the endless journaling made me happier. Like, a lot. The key was doing it the right way. The right way, I discovered, is to really focus on something, then write about it in as much detail as I can, taking as much time as I can. Sort of the opposite of Julia Cameron's morning pages, if you're familiar with her good books, like The Artist's Way. I don't spew all my woes onto paper, don't speculate on my dog's inexplicable diarroeah (sp? I never do remember the spelling of diarroeah), or ponder the nature of erstwhile friends, although all this is undoubtedly very cathartic. I commit an ACT OF ATTENTION (capitalized because this is a key concept of the project). Recently the objects of my Acts of Attention have been, in no particular order: a really amazing purple and white iris, a silk scarf with bullfighters on, very stylized and cool, that I recently unearthed from a cedar chest in my mother's house, my feet. Yes, I did say my feet.

Then, I write about the Act of Attention, and/or draw it, in a notebook just for this purpose. I only allow myself to make positive observations. And I did say draw, although I'm the worst drawer in the world, as you will see when I figure out how to scan my bad drawings into this blog.

And that's it. It usually takes about twenty minutes a day, and only requires a notebook, a pen, and if you want to get fancy, it's nice to have colored pencils for drawing.

"How can this make me happier?" you will undoubtedly be saying. I am not sure, but I think it's just the really paying attention to what is around you, this minute. Then recording it. Giving your real life now some respect, loving your life by attending to its details. You can create your own Happiness book. All I can say is, it works for me, and it might work for you, too.

You don't have to be a writer.

You don't have to be an artist.

You don't have to be rich (to be my girl...only kidding...love Prince).

You only have to be open to making your own happiness, and giving it twenty minutes a day (more on time later).

The idea is that I will post at least three times a week, letting you know about the Save Your Life exercises I am doing, and hope you will do, and let you know my progress on the book, including excerpts. To spark your interest, some chapters are: "When Your Life Feels Like a Scary Movie," "Before You Got Nintendo," and "I want to be Julia Child." Which in itself might seem like a scary movie, unless you're a little wacked and food-obsessed like me.

What do you have to do, if you think you want to try this to be happier? Read the posts. Do the exercises. Let me know how it goes if you want to. That's it.

What this is not about:

The psychology or science of happiness...very popular subjct, see Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert...great book.

Geeky Happiness tips. Although I may sneak some in occasionally. (Chocolate (especially Dagoba Xocolatl) = happiness!)

Earnest New Age/inner child stuff, although in my book, the Dalai Lama is seriously cool. And not New Agey at all. Tibetan culture is hardly new, anyway.

So, that's about it, except for a disclaimer: I really have no idea how to blog, so please bear with me. I am probably the most technologically challenged person I know besides my 85 year old mom.

Next post tomorrow, including a suggested Act of Attention, and my own response to it, to give you more of a clue.

Cheers,