[Click here to review this week's Bliss Initiatives.]
Wow! I am really enjoying this. Thank you to everyone who is playing along, it is a lot of fun knowing that you are out there making your own strides towards Everyday Bliss. I especially appreciated that many of you took time out to comment or otherwise let me know what has been happening in your life as a result of following my little game. My friend Lisa just posted in her facebook status that she "is taking one from Kathy and feeling blissful and full of joy. Content." SO SWEET and I'm happy she feels that way!
If I were to sum up the lesson of the week it is to pay attention. More then a hundred times a day there are chances to feel a little JOY. The trick is to open yourself up to them. Feel the hugs, notice the hummingbirds, remember the love. Enjoyment is out there for the taking! Rebekah said it beautifully in her blog: (Check out the full post here) "SO I decided I would play along with Kathy and her experiment. There are a couple reasons I thought this would be awesome. The first reason is that I feel like over the last year and a half or so I have become kind of numb to the miracles in my life. The wonderful things I experience on a daily basis have become sort of ordinary. It's easy to forget how great things are when you start to focus more on what is missing than what you have.... Here is what I have noticed already. I'm more present to situations with others where I can be more graceful and understanding..."
As I mentioned when I started, I don't think I'll ever finish everything I set out to do and that proved true this week. Two days I entirely forgot about my Field work - to do at least one thing from Daphna Caperonis' terrific list of 50 ways to find Joy. I also took no time "getting in the mood for joy" and didn't even watch the super short Finding Joy Movie which looked like a fabulous idea to start any Joy filled day. I did do a lot of study and am amazed at the number of resources out there. One could realistically spend the entire year focusing on joy and there would be more to discover. I am really looking forward to doing it again in 13 weeks!
Following Ben Franklin's process to rate himself on how he did with regard to his virtues I am trying to figure out how I want to rate myself on this Joy Week. I can definately give myself points for increasing the amount of Joy I felt over previous weeks, I think sharing joy with others is up on it's scale too but it still feels like there is a lot more JOY to be felt. I could also rate the execution of my plan which if I do a 100 point scale I would give myelf a 75-80%. The whole thing is entirely subjective so I will arbitrarily try out a 10 point scale and give myself a 7 for my first week of JOY.
Up next: A week of ORDER
My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise
