Day 87 – Happiness is … a 5am wake up call

Happiness Experiment: Get Up Early

“Whoever has tasted the breath of morning knows that the most invigorating and most delightful hours of then day are commonly spent in bed; though it is the evident intention of nature that we should enjoy and profit by them.”” – Robert Southey

One of the most romantic moments of my life was a gentle nudging and a whispered coaxing on a summer morning… “if we hurry we can get to the top of the hill and watch the sunrise.”

Leaving the warm sheets did not make me happy. Catching the sunrise on the other hand was bliss.

Early bird gets the worm

I think the air is different at 5am. Any veteran early bird will agree that getting up early sucks; it’s the being up early that is magical.

It’s the muted sounds of a fresh snowfall no matter the time of year…  it’s the calm air of the world stopping for a moment so you can breathe… it’s the unique smugness that comes with being energized for the day at 7am while others are just starting a tango with their snooze button.

Study after study reveals that people who get up early are happier.

You may believe the wee hours have morning breath worse than a robin fresh from the worm fields, but facts are facts.

Dr Joerg Huber of Roehampton University says, “There are morning people and evening people, and morning people tend to be healthier and happier as well as having lower body mass indices.”

Gretchen Rubin, author of “The Happiness Project” claims that her resolution to get up earlier boosted her happiness.

On this day my wake up call was as romantic as a worm belch, but, none-the-less, I struggled unhappily out of the sheets at 5am for a 6am boot camp class. Just like starting a workout, I never want to do it until I’m done. Then I wonder why everyone doesn’t do it… and I breath in some magic as the world turns its face gently toward the sun with the promise of potential that only early morning can provide.

 Why is it so hard to start something we know will result in happiness?

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So…it has come to this !

The early worm gets eaten. True, but at least he died happy 🙂

Rating:  Get Up Early Day (8 out of 10)

• Itchy feet – 3 out of 5 (seemed like a great idea when I went to bed)
• Twitch – it is not calm and still like the morning air
• Happy hour –  5 out of 5 (I admit it…I’m a morning person)

What the heck does all that mean, you ask? Read Itchy Feet Explained.

Tomorrow: Shop.  Use the calendar to view my happiness tasks for each day along with a brief description of the task and why I chose it.

• The Seagull and the Worm (hawth.me)

Day 86 – Happiness is … like King Kong, but cuter

Happiness Experiment: Johari Windows

“Don’t waste a minute being unhappy. If one window closes – run to the next window- or break down a door.” – unknown

I didn’t know doors had a preference but it made me smile…like King Kong, but cuter.

Johari’s Window – a simple model for improving self-awareness. Created by two guys named Joe and Harry. Joe + Harry = Johari.

Excuse me while I take a tangent detour… BHAG*, (pronounced BEE-hag), or Big Hairy Audacious Goal. (Gold star if have you followed the path my brain took to reach this detour.)

I enjoy acronyms in general, and while this one initially annoyed me because a ‘b’ and an ‘h’ should not be put together like that in the English language, I love the word ‘audacious’ and I double love the intention of the thing.

BHAG’s – Big Hairy Audacious Goals – like King Kong, but cuter

Not only do you have a goal – that’s a pretty cool thing in itself – but you have a BIG goal. Because if you’re going to have a goal, you might as well make it a big one. And if you have a big goal, it will no doubt be audacious when you achieve it – not just awesome or merely amazing – frickin’ AUDACIOUS. But let’s be honest – the doing of it is no doubt going to get HAIRY – do it anyway.

So there it is… a perfectly summed up zip file of life. Just hearing the phrase makes me want to have one (a life and a bhag), makes me romanticize the tear spilling, knee scraping, OMG stop the world I want to get off journey, makes me start the list of thank you’s for the acceptance speech I will give when I’m as shiny as a survivor jury member, makes me want to fling the glasses from my face & rip the buttons from my shirt to reveal the Superwoman lurking under the normal human being facade…

…and fly out a window or break down a door to battle my obstacles. Aaaand we’re back –

Johari’s window provides 56 adjectives and asks you to pick 5 or 6 that describe you. You then ask your friends to do the same. The results highlight the qualities you hide from the world, the ones that you wear like a badge of honour, and the ones you are blind to but others see. So far, some of my Johari window blind spots are bold, brave and powerful – like Katwoman?!

Life is a BHAG. Suit up.

My bold, brave and powerful avatar alter ego… like King Kong, but cuter.

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So…it has come to this !

STPC – Friends and I have come up with a few things this acronym could stand for in relation to personal training. What can you come up with?

*BHAG, like Johari’s window, was also created by two guys – Jim and Jerry. Joe and Harry created the window thing. Three J names and a rhyme…must mean absolutely nothing.

Rating:  Johari Window Day (8 out of 10)

• Itchy feet – 4 out of 5 (love these silly analysis things)
• Twitch – the twitch is in the arena…everyone can see it
• Happy hour –  4 out of 5 (had to do the Johari as an add on to the day as I was too busy enjoying the company of the people who think I’m bold, brave* and powerful  – *being told I was brave made me cry , but in a cute way 🙂

What the heck does all that mean, you ask? Read Itchy Feet Explained.

Tomorrow: Get Up Early.  Use the calendar to view my happiness tasks for each day along with a brief description of the task and why I chose it.

Related articles

• Big Hairy Audacious Goals – And How they Hurt Your Incentive Program Design (i2i-align.com)

Day 85 – Happiness is … moving like a herd of turtles

Happiness Experiment: Catching Up

“The U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

And so begins another catch up blog. One minute fixes are all the rage – one minute meditation, one minute makeover, one minute wonders, one minute how-to’s.  So here is my one minute to read happiness blog post. You’ve got 6.67 seconds per happiness task. Ready, set, GO!

Buy a Poppy – Listened to some radio programs on the origins of the poppy, the debate between the red and the white poppy funds, and the veterans the poppy funds help. Talked to the lady who sold me the poppy. Wore my poppy. I learned things and gained some new insights. 7/10

Take a Nap – Ohhhh ya. Study after study reports that humans should nap. Before 4pm for 20-90 minutes and even at night. Different studies tote varying positive effects of the nap but ALL include more and better sex. I love a good nap around 1 -2 pm and I indulged. 8/10 – love my sleep but the amazing sex partner still hasn’t popped out of my dreams…

Walk in Nature – Ok, I jogged. It was November and I got mud on my shoes :). I jogged to a view. I enjoyed the view. I explored a new trail. I raised my heart rate thinking about bears. I chatted with a fellow jogger. Outside is a happy place. 9/10 (only because convincing myself to sweat is always a bit of a challenge)

Learn a New Skill – I think I Beibered this one. Procrastination is not a new skill for me.

Unpack – The original goal was to unpack one box a day. I unpacked one box. A week later I put the stuff away. The next week the 10 boxes of Christmas decorations came of the closet. I think a maid would make me happy. 8/10 – even though it’s 2 steps forward and 10 back, there is a sense of accomplishment in that one unpacking.

 Buy Someone Else Flowers –  With a lightened conscience I admit a cheat day as I actually did this earlier in the year. Bought and hand delivered flowers to two wonderful friends while they were at work. Wish I could do it everyday. It truly is fun to surprise people with ‘just because’ gifts. 9/10

Test a Theory – Can men and women be friends? A theory I’ve been testing for a few months now has, at this point, lead me to the conclusion that men and women cannot be friends. I will continue to try and disprove this as I am not happy with the results thus far. 6/10

Do It Anyway – Face your fear and do it anyway. At the risk of being reported to the SPCA, I have successfully killed two spiders now without screaming, 10 foot poles, or reviewing my fire insurance policy. I think that’s progress people. Can’t honestly say it’s added to my happiness. 5/10

Victory Log – Write a list of accomplishments, big or small, to remind yourself of how far you’ve come. Hmmmm, had trouble with this one because most of the things i want to add to the list are still mid-project. I view most things as a work in progress at the best of times so to write anything down as being finished was an issue. I did write down ‘breakfast‘ but even that is hard to swallow because technically I will have to start again tomorrow… Love breakfast though 🙂 The activity on the whole was frustrating. 6/10

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So…it has come to this !

For the life of me I can think of nothing sarcastic, witty, or remotely interesting to write here. 

Rating:  Catch Up Day (7/10 out of 10)

• Itchy feet – 3 out of 5 (today was not an itchy feet for life day but some friends fixed that)
• Twitch – it goes faster everyday…I’ll never catch it!
• Happy hour –  4 out of 5 (writing 6.67 second blurbs takes so much time )

What the heck does all that mean, you ask? Read Itchy Feet Explained.

Tomorrow: Johari’s Window.  Use the calendar to view my happiness tasks for each day along with a brief description of the task and why I chose it.

Day 83 – Happiness is … wielding a pen

Happiness Experiment: WRITE!

“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of  The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.” ― Dorothy Parker

I attended the Surrey International Writer’s Conference two years ago and heard history.

“Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of men. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!”

Ok…that’s not the speech I heard. You can hear what I heard here… “This Day We Write!” (Start listening at 1:25)

This Day We Write

I returned this year and found a cult of ‘This Day We Write’ paraphernalia and I wondered… Is the pen mightier than the sword?…

“He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing, He does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance.  In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground. He cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.” Job 39:22

A writer needs to write… he wakes in a frenzy tormented by sheathed words, quill & ink flashing across the white space of his imagination, and yet afraid to eat up the page… afraid that what he has to say has already been said.

History is never written, but rewritten, yet only originality makes history. Few can pull it off. Less try.

But then the muse calls and history leaves no choices.

When greatness is outclassed, when impossible reveals itself a fraud, when the world shifts to make room, time must pause, demanding the rest of us stand aside in silence.

History runs through the story that cannot be stilled; the writer reworking a finite combination of  letters in a way that the world will recognize when it sees them for the first time. Few can pull it off. But we try.

Because when the audacity of succeeding rattles against his consciousness, the writer sits still, and the pen is mightier than the fear.

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So…it has come to this !

History once rode the wings of a big red horse who could not stand still when the trumpets sounded. A reworked  Aragorn speech may not be as audacious as Secretariat winning the Belmont Stakes but it was pretty cool in my writing world.

PS ~ Cloud Atlas … an impossible storyline. Go see it 🙂

Rating:  Writing day (10 out of 10)

• Itchy feet – 5 out of 5 (love stepping into a world where I feel like a writer)
• Twitch – one day I’ll write about it
• Happy hour –  5 out of 5 (love writing. hate writing. period. )

What the heck does all that mean, you ask? Read Itchy Feet Explained.

Tomorrow: Buy a Poppy.  Use the calendar to view my happiness tasks for each day along with a brief description of the task and why I chose it. Go back to see Day 84…

• Things that inspire me to write #83: JK Rowling (likestrawberrytea.com)
• Tell Me You Love Me . . . (or that you don’t) (niaforrester.com)
• NaNoWriMo: Getting Past the Writer’s Block (wordscomeezine.wordpress.com)

Day 82 – Happiness is … wabi sabi

Happiness Experiment: Do It All

“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

Is it terrible that when I write out that list of effective happiness tasks and think, “How much more could one person cram into a weekend?”, my first thought is, “If only I’d _______.”

Big cities are an acquired taste

Traveled in good weather to a different city, stayed in a hotel, listened to a J.K. Rowling interview on CBC, attended a writing conference, met up with friends I hadn’t seen for a while, made a new friend, got a chance to write, rest, workout, network, learn, teach, play… and it only cost $80 for the whole happiness overload weekend.

The truth is I enjoyed my weekend fully. It is only in the aftermath that I look back and see where improvements could have been made and isn’t that what we do with any experience? Isn’t that called learning in every other aspect of life?

One could argue I am not appreciating what I have, but on the other hand, by rebuking myself for the ‘if only’ thought, I am not accepting myself for who I am… a visionary ‘anything is possible’ superhuman with an allergy to mediocre.

Sounds so much better than hard to please and never satisfied huh?

It all comes down to wabi sabi… nothing lasts, nothing is finished, nothing is perfect. . My weekend didn’t last, but I loved every moment. My weekend is finished in the sense that it is no longer the weekend, but it is not finished in the sense that I am still learning from it. My weekend wasn’t perfect, but I wasn’t trying to make it perfect; I was trying to ignore the issue of happiness altogether.

And I did. It was a perfect wabi sabi weekend.

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So…it has come to this !

I love wasabi.

Rating:  Do It All day (8 out of 10)

• Itchy feet – 5 out of 5 (Very excited about the day… and happy the pre-trip organizing is over)
• Twitch –  maybe I should try a cucumber wasabi eye mask
• Happy hour –  5 out of 5 (better than I’d imagined…despite the lack of horse riding)

What the heck does all that mean, you ask? Read Itchy Feet Explained.

Tomorrow: Write.  Use the calendar to view my happiness tasks for each day along with a brief description of the task and why I chose it.

• Life Is a Wabi Sabi Journey (piaxlou.wordpress.com)
• Wabi Sabi Sex & Pleasure (omtimes.com)

Day 84 – Happiness is … like a drug

Happiness Experiment: Be Random

“I vowed to find happiness…or die trying” ~ Scott Stoll

Drugs: toted as the shortcut to happiness, but if the purpose of life is the journey, if the secret to happiness is enjoying the scenery along the way, why would you want to cut your happiness short?

Alas, ours is not a black and white world, is it, Lance ?

What if we could live happily ever after? What if we are right now on the evolutionary track that allows our descendants to experience life as one magical epiphany after another? What if the raw biological capacity to experience happiness is nothing more than a series of chemical reactions and we discovered a way to engineer ‘happier’ brains? Would you do it? Aren’t we all trying to do it?

Despite the many spectacularly incompetent routes to a life time of happiness, there is a route that will work for you. Why do most of us bypass it…?

Because Google maps cannot list the way from point A to point B in 27 simple steps which include jet skiing across the Pacific Ocean, because scientists and gardeners alike cannot manufacture an effective rabbit hole pill that does not involve voluntary amnesia or can satisfy our re-regulating synapses that demand more with each hit, and mostly, because we don’t have enough time.

There are an infinite number of doorways that could lead into utopia and every decision you make opens up a whole bunch of new possible routes.  But only some of them will work for you. “Great” I hear you think…life is short; who wants to spend it twisting doorknobs?!

But let me ask you this… what else were you planning on doing with your life? Your answer to that might be the first place you’ll want to start looking for your unique happiness portal because no matter what your answer was, there is your next happiness hit.

Find your own doorway

Because although the secret to happiness is the same for everyone, your interpretation is as unique as you. You see, the secret is you; and  in the grand way of secrets, no-one else can tell you how to follow your heart, find your bliss, enjoy the ride despite the falls, and basically ignore all the locked doors taunting you. Maybe you have to build your own door. What would it look like? What is on the other side? Is it possible that when you walk through that door, you will find yourself in exactly the same place and all that changed was your point of view?

“Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we’ll never use.” ~ Charles Schultz

Perhaps the only thing limiting us from the same happiness potential of future generations is … ____________. Seriously, what is stopping you?

Happiness is a drug. We are all drug addicts willing to try anything, spend anything, beg, borrow and steal from anyone to get more. Here is my 3 step program:

Step 1 – What would you be doing with your time on earth if you’d already found your doorway?

Step 2 – What is stopping you from doing that now?

Step 3 – Start twisting doorknobs and see which one opens.

Fall down, laugh, get back up

If you have not yet read, ‘The Apology Lance Armstrong Will Never Give“, do it now.

If you have not yet watched, “Falling Uphill“, do it now.

It will take you about 5 minutes to do both of these things. What else have you got to do?

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So…it has come to this !

“If you worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on.” ~ Lance Armstrong 

And worrying is like riding a rocking horse…gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere. Or so I’ve ben told.

 Rating:  Random topic day (8 out of 10)

• Itchy feet – 4 out of 5 (worried I wouldn’t find a good topic)
• Twitch – it’s not random…it’s there
• Happy hour –  5 out of 5 (loved it so much I am posting this blog out of order)

What the heck does all that mean, you ask? Read Itchy Feet Explained.

Tomorrow: Do It All (Day 82).  Use the calendar to view my happiness tasks for each day along with a brief description of the task and why I chose it.

Day 81 – Happiness is … going nuts – OH hazelnuts!

Happiness Experiment: Sell Myself

“Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination” ~ Mark Twain

“Nuts, oh hazelnuts…uh…Cadbury’s takes ’em and they cover them in chocolate!” It loses some of it’s punch without the catchy tune in your head – (if the link doesn’t take you there, plug ‘Cadbury’s whole nut’ into You Tube and enjoy) – but I, for one, (my brother for two, I’m sure), will never forget.

By silent consent as children, certain words became taboo as uttering the word ‘nuts’ caused a loud outbreak of impromptu advertising from our dad. I did wonder sometimes if he was on commission. Our friends just thought he was nuts… DOH!

There is no denying that good advertising sticks with you so today I did something I have been contemplating for years and turned my car into a mobile billboard. Some people may think I’m nuts, but if it works, I may break into song.

Inserting shameless plug here…
Heartbeats Fitness became the Kickass Life Project and it should be visited …

www.sassysexystrong.com

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So…it has come to this !

Ironically,  my first car was a large yellow boat of a vehicle that I dubbed ‘The Yellow Submarine’…and I’m allergic to chocolate. (That was a joke. If you didn’t get it then you obviously didn’t watch the Cadbury’s clip:)

Rating:  Advertising  day (8 out of 10)

• Itchy feet – 4 out of 5 (Was a little hesitant still…it’s a level of commitment akin to a tattoo)
• Twitch – can I make money from a twitch?
• Happy hour –  4 out of 5 (I like it…but now I have to drive without speeding or cutting people off…not that I ever did…)

What the heck does all that mean, you ask? Read Itchy Feet Explained.

Tomorrow: Do It All.  Use the calendar to view my happiness tasks for each day along with a brief description of the task and why I chose it.

Day 80 – Happiness is … an illuminated swan

Happiness Experiment: Go New Age

“There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way.” ~ Buddha

Three women, one book, and I have a plane to catch. Sounds like a set up for a bad joke.

Killing time before a flight in an airport bookshop, my mum, my grandmother and I stumbled on the Name Book. It describes your personality in detail based on the idea that certain sound waves (your name) being directed at you over time, will bring forward some character traits and suppress others. It also tells you your animal totem. My grandmother was a dove. I was a swan. My mother said, “Don’t look me up… I’ll be a chicken.”

I laughed. “Of course you won’t be a chicken, mum. They would never list an animal totem that didn’t make you want to buy the book.”

We didn’t buy the book.

Fast forward to present day… two boats, one harbour, and I need to get to other side. Sounds like a bad chicken joke.

The first year I went on the fitness retreat, we had to wait hours before boarding the ferry and so we browsed a crowded row of tent shops for treasures; a gypsy fair of artists, food vendors, and Wild Woman.

I’m not a believer of astrology; I prefer fact checking belated horoscopes rather than map reading them ahead of time, but Wild Woman had a tantalizing display and a unique set of tarot cards.

“Pick one randomly,” she said. “It will tell you where you are in life, it will tell you the colours that you need to surround yourself with in order to harmonize your current place in the universe, it will recommend the scents that will enhance your experience of the place you are in.” Scents, btw, that she conveniently sells along with jewelry in matching colours. A cleverly designed ploy, I thought, as I lifted a card from the basket.

Never bought the cards but I did get a survival kit

2 years later I am wistfully looking over at the Wild Woman tent in dismay that I will not be able to pick a card and be enlightened with my current universe status. Both times I have visited, I’ve skeptically pulled a card from the basket and been faced with an accurate and eloquent report on my emotional state and current situation in life. Last year I was ‘Illumination.’ I noted the scents and colours I’m supposed to surround myself with because while I’m not sure it helps, I am sure it can’t hurt.

This year, as walk on passengers to the ferry, we were separated from the vendor displays. I considered jumping the fence and making a run for the basket, but chickened out. So I missed the Wild Woman boat this year; crossed the harbour and got to the other side though.

Which brings me back to the bad joke…”Of course you won’t be a chicken, mum.”

I was right. She was a toad.

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So…it has come to this !

The Name Book has been on my bookshelf for years now and on at least one gift giving occasion each year, my mother has gracefully received a toady item of some sort. 

Rating:  New Age  day (7 out of 10)

• Itchy feet – 5 out of 5 (a weekend of exercise and good food puts anyone in a good mood)
• Twitch – twitching in the graceful way of swans
• Happy hour – 2 out of 5 (was really disappointed not to play my annual tarot game)

What the heck does all that mean, you ask? Read Itchy Feet Explained.

Tomorrow: Advertising.  Use the calendar to view my happiness tasks for each day along with a brief description of the task and why I chose it.

Related articles

• First 10 Minutes: The Unfinished Swan (godisageek.com)

Day 79 – Happiness is … never giving up

Happiness Experiment: Learn 

“The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is.” ~ Erasmus

Today was supposed to be a day of learning; learning more about fitness, nutrition, & health. I went to the classes, lectures & workshops and I listened, refreshed & discovered …but that’s not what I learned.

Three years ago, on the day I knew my marriage was over, I was walking through a store and terrified of life when a man approached me to say, “I just wanted you to know how radiant you look.” Then he walked off, not looking back, and I never saw him again. He was older and didn’t strike me as a pervert. He seemed genuine and I felt … taller, glowing, confident.

Sometimes happiness feels like its on the other side of the fence…

8 months ago, on the day I knew my feelings for someone were not reciprocated, I was eating cheesecake  with a girlfriend in a restaurant when the waitress came over to tell us that a gentleman had asked to buy ‘the beautiful ladies’ a drink. He left cash and the restaurant before we knew about his gesture. He seemed to have no ulterior motive and we felt… special, decadent, glamorous.

A couple of weeks ago, on the day I knew I was not strong enough to stay but goodbye was ripping me apart, I was rushing down the street when a man stopped me to tell me I was stunning. He also walked away without a backward glance.

And a few weeks ago when I was on an annual trip with my fitness friends and feeling the sting of being single against my will, I learned that there must be something about that state of vulnerability, suppressed emotion, and disappointment that makes me incredibly attractive!

4 women, of varying ages and levels of acquaintance, made a point of letting me know how much I had changed in the last few years, how I seemed much more out-going, friendly and, ironically enough, happier. They shared some of their life and I learned that all of them had found happiness, peace, &  freedom despite tragedy, failures, & mistakes.

Perhaps it isn’t the sadness that people are seeing when I feel like I’m faking it with the world. Perhaps it is the fact that I’m trying despite it all. Perhaps what makes strangers spontaneously share their admiration is the same thing that makes people cheer for the athlete who falls but still crosses the finish line. Perhaps when I think I’m oozing despair, what is really coming through is the unwillingness to give in to it… strength, determination, life.

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So…it has come to this !

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” ~ Agatha Christie

Rating:  Learning  day (7 out of 10)

• Itchy feet – 3 out of 5 (had a little trepidation about the day)
• Twitch – I learned the test results showed there are no deficiencies.
• Happy hour – 4 out of 5 (it sucks knowing life sucks, but it’s cool to know how amazing people are)

What the heck does all that mean, you ask? Read Itchy Feet Explained.

Tomorrow: New Age.  Use the calendar to view my happiness tasks for each day along with a brief description of the task and why I chose it.

Day 78 – Happiness is … matching tops and bottoms

Happiness Experiment: Take a poll

“Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.”- Tolstoy

All expense paid retreat… 2 days, 3 nights… coastal views and newly built accommodations… beautifully prepared meals… complimentary welcome wine… professional fitness instruction… I love my job

This is a yearly YMCA instructor ‘retreat’ that I attend along with hundreds of other Y volunteers and while we did get to stay in newly built bunk houses which were a huge step up from the old cabins, I still think ‘retreat’ is a misleading term for the ‘put us through our paces non-stop boot camps (aka training) that we love to hate. 🙂

They say happiness makes for a boring story… a chartered bus with a driver that looked like a cross between Einstein and a Hells angel mobster and ran a red light less than 5 minutes before reaching our destination is much more entertaining than carpooling and stopping at Lulu Lemon along the way… greasy burgers and wilted caesar salad on a fitness retreat is much more interesting than mouth-watering meals… sharing sleeping quarters with a bat & out house facilities is far more noteworthy than bathrooms with heated floors.

Each year this annual training weekend has its story making moments and it’s happily boring moments, but for me, the highlight this year was the great underwear debate.

Men boxer underwear (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A 4 hour bus ride followed by lugging sleeping bag and luggage to walk a on ferry ‘cruise’ can lack a certain element of fun, so I decided to create my own. I surveyed my traveling partners (over 25 women and one lucky man), about happiness. This is what I learned…

Question 1 – What activity do you do to make yourself happy?

The results of this question might be skewed as I was polling a group of fitness instructors, but the overwhelming answer was… exercise! At least that is the PG version I’m posting 🙂

Question 2 – What is a happy smell?

Most unique answer… a combination of perfume & coffee. Most specific answer… freshly rained on cedar. Most common answers… vanilla, baking or sea air.

Question 3 – What is a happy colour?

Lime green was mentioned a lot as were various names for pink or purple.

Question 4 – What is a happy word?

This one caused trouble but ‘freedom’ was the word that stuck out.

Question 5 – Where is a happy place?

Overwhelmingly happiness is found at home or by the water. If you’re lucky enough to have a home on the water, I guess you are set!

Is anyone still reading or are you stuck at the underwear… 🙂 I’m sure you’re thinking, “That’s all dandy but where does an underwear debate come into it?” The truth is I can’t remember how it became a part of the survey but by the time our bus got to the ferry terminal, we had all heard more than we needed to about our underwear secrets.

The sixth unintended and unedited question to the happiness survey …”Do you wear underwear when you work out?”

Unfortunately there is a strict code to these ‘retreats’ that what happens on the bus, stays on the bus, so I am unable to share most of the results. However, when I polled our driver, he responded, “I don’t workout.” I feel I can share that answer 🙂

I will also divulge that my one and only OCD tendency is that my bra and underwear must match no matter what and at all costs. This plays a role in my decision to wear underwear or not when working out and became quite a happy little debate.

What about you… care to share…?

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So…it has come to this !

I don’t have OCD… I have CDO. It’s like OCD but all the letters are in alphabetical order…as they should be.

Rating:  Survey day (10 out of 10)

• Itchy feet – 5 out of 5 (I love the opportunity and the camaraderie of this retreat)
• Twitch – survey says…yes
• Happy hour – 5 out of 5 (despite the bus toilet, I still give this day a 5)

What the heck does all that mean, you ask? Read Itchy Feet Explained.

Tomorrow: Learn.  Use the calendar to view my happiness tasks for each day along with a brief description of the task and why I chose it.

• Giveaway: “The Underwear Book” by Todd Parr (AUTOGRAPHED) (fromthebungalow.wordpress.com)