TIPS DAY: MOMENT OF WORRY

You may already know about my infatuation with Gretchen Rubin, who applies her genius to the study of happiness.

It would take a village for me to accomplish all that Gretchen does. In addition to writing books and a Page-a-Day Calendar, she maintains The Happiness Project blog and manages her Facebook Fan page, where she asks things like what is your favorite number and 213 people reply.

On my Facebook page I ask things like “How do you place toilet paper in the holder? With the paper coming from the top or bottom?” and two people reply.

Gretchen also created The Happiness Project Toolbox with a mind-boggling assortment of tasks to help you become happier: resolutions, group resolutions, one-sentence journal (I tried this one), and secrets of adulthood, to name a few; and then these tools have tools.

“If you wake up feeling yucky . . .” she has a solution. How does she do all this?

Moreover, you can email Gretchen to get all kinds of things, such as Gretchen’s personal Resolutions Chart for inspiration. She has her own YouTube channel! I could go on, but I’ll mention just one more thing, the daily Moment of Happiness email I receive from Gretchen.

Here is today’s:

“Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.”

— Benjamin Franklin

*If you enjoy these emails, please forward one to a friend.

You see that asterisk at the bottom? She knows how to promote herself in a way that makes you admire her. By contrast, at the bottom of each of my blog posts, I clock you in the head with an arms-length list of links to articles I’ve written. At times, I copy Gretchen’s idea of saying “It’s Share With a Friend Day!” imploring my readers to share the link to my blog with friends.

By the way, Gretchen is no lightweight, having been, among other things, Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal and having clerked on the Supreme Court for Sandra Day O’Connor. She pursues happiness with an intelligence and gusto that must also have led to her success in previous careers.

For Gretchen, every Wednesday is tip day; copycatting, I started having tip days, which occur randomly, when I think of it. Mine of course are worry tips, which are close cousins to happy tips. If you eliminate worry, you’ll be happier, right?

So today I am combining the best of Happiness guru Gretchen Rubin: Tip Day along with a Moment of—in this case—Worry . . .

Morning cheer

First a smidge of background. I generally do not wake up feeling yucky. My bedroom has sunlight and my Casey, snoozing in a sprawl beside me, gives me something to smile about. But then, lest I become too jolly, I (sometimes) remind myself of all that could go wrong. (I added “sometimes,” because if I tell you that I always do this,my brain will believe it and become set to do this kind of worry. Worry Tip #1: Avoid brain-setting.)

Recently I wrote a piece called Easy Meditation, in which I shared a method I heard about on NPR. The author talked about allowing thoughts to pass through your mind like clouds. So now, when I awake–or any time bad, mad, sad things visit my thoughts–I try to allow them to come and go like passing clouds. (Tip #2)

Two More Worry Tips:

  • Take a Moment of Worry each morning and then tell yourself to be done for the day.
  • Or, and I may have mentioned this before, make an appointment with yourself to worry later, say at six o’clock in the evening. When the assigned time arrives, you may not feel like worrying at all!

How do you manage your worry?

And now for what Gretchen would call Shameless Self Promotion:

Did I mention that today is Share With a Friend Day (Facebook, Twitter, email, LinkedIn, Pinterest)?

Check out my lastest Home Goes Strong article, Roasted Vegetables.

I had the privilege of interviewing Gretchen, who shared lots of Happiness tips:

*Happy Home, Part 1: How To Be Happier At Home, A Conversation With Happiness Project Expert Gretchen Rubin

*21 Ways To Remember Practically Everything!

*How Couples Resolve The Thermostat Wars & Other Domestic Battles

*Aphrodisiac Foods & 7 Easy, Delicious Recipes To Give Your Libido A Boost

*Brain Food . . . 5 Delicious, Easy Recipes

  • Author’s note: It would probably take the rest of the day to figure out why there is formatting glitch on this page. I’d like it to be perfect, but if you’ll allow me one more tip–which I learned when my ex ran for Congress–it’s a good idea to drop the last 15% of perfection. I’ve noticed that letting go of perfection is a habit of highly successful, less-stressed individuals.

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *