Whimsical Conclusions

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WHIMSY - extravagant, fanciful, or excessively playful expression; an odd or fanciful notion. [Whimsy week starts here. Click for this week's Bliss Initiatives.] 

Once again my experiment has surprised me. During the most recent Creativity and Passion weeks I experienced a palpable increase in Bliss and awarded myself with three and five bliss boosts respectively. In the case of Passion week I actually graded myself lower on my weekly grading scale then during the previous week but even so, my experience of Bliss had gone up. I thought I would easily continue the trend but I can't say that was the case. I just didn't get in the whimsy groove as much as I was hoping. All in all I am not awarding myself any bliss boosts and will be giving myself a 2 on my 10 point scale.  I think  the highlight from this week was my little Whimsy Study and I did start to get in the groove with some flash Inspiration searches yesterday but it didn't really amount to the whimsical breakthrough I felt last time  out.


If you are interested in reviewing last whimsy week's fun click on any of the following:

Wonderful Whimsy

Whimsy Musings

Jessie's Towder and Nests

Wearable Whimsy

More Wearable Whimsy

Corporate Whimsy

Kitchen Whimsy

Practical Whimsy

I find myself thinking about Ben Franklin here. Considering that he concentrated on his various virtues over the course of a lifetime, I have to believe that success was very different from week to week and virtue to virtue. Ben and I are conducting our evaluation in very different ways. Like me, Ben concentrated on one specific virtue each week, but he also kept track of each virtue on a daily basis.


His chart looked like this:

The  top of the page showed the virtue he was concentrating on for that particular week and had a column for each day of the week. The rows had each of the virtues listed and then each night before he went to bed he would give himself "a black mark" for every virtue he violated. His goal was to live a "clean" mark free life so the fewer dots the better. Franklin admits never living a completely vice free life, he was particularly known for womanizing and drinking after all, but over time his pages were cleaner.


Ben had this to say about his project:


"I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wish’d to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into"


Perhaps it would be boring if the trajectory were always in one direction or another. Regardless of the outcome each week it is always interesting to be playing. I love having a context for looking at things and even if I can't always score myself highly, like Ben, 


"Tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it."


Just playing the game definitely makes me happier!

Next Post: Everyday Bliss Open House... tune in for fabulous prizes!

My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise

Marking a half way point!

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INQUIRY - a seeking or request for truth, information, or knowledge; study, scrutiny, exploration.  [Inquiry week begins here. Click for this week's Bliss Initiatives.]

I just realized that I've made it to the half way mark in my first virtue cycle. OK this is a year long experiment and I haven't even made it through the first complete pass through of all the virtues but I feel like celebrating.

Hip hip hooray!

I'd like you all to know that having you all out there reading and sometimes commenting has made this experiment of mine super fun and actually entirely possible. There were already a couple of times when, if I didn't know you were all out there waiting for my next update, I may have quit. I am a self proclaimed TOURIST* and as such I often think things are a good idea but I don't always have the stick-to-it-ive-ness to follow through. There are just too many things to explore. I find it hard to stay on track. So thank you for helping to keep me on track this time!

I am curious to find out what virtue or possibly specific post you like best so far. I definitely resonated with Whimsy the most this time around but as Amy noted (in the Serenity week comes to a close comments) "it's nice to cycle through your habits over the course of a year - who knows what craziness a week may hold, or how receptive you'll be to a particular change of pace."  I'm really looking forward to seeing how each virtue feels each time around.

I do have a few favorite posts. I really like The Distinctions of Bliss because it lays out how I decided on the 13 virtues I chose. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to consider coming up with their own list but if you are interested in why I picked what I picked this is the post for you! I like the  Joy Boosters post because it gives a lot of really concrete and simple things to do to increase Joy in your life. I want each week's Bliss Initiatives to provide easy access to the virtues but I think I'd like to add more "Boosters" in upcoming weeks! I like Occasional Bursts of Passion for the same reason, some simple concrete tips, and for the fact that it has that hot kiss photo. Every time I see that photo it just has me thinking more passionately and I like that! I liked all the Whimsy week posts but if pressed would pick Kitchen Whimsy as the best. It was fun to borrow Jeff's format and do things a bit differently... hmmm perhaps I'll have to do some more of that!

So what were YOUR favorites? Anything you'd like to see more of or has something been missing for you that you would like to see? I'm interested in your feedback! Let me know here in the comments or if you prefer drop me a note in facebook.  I look forward to what ever you have to say!

* A long time ago, I created my own three group classification system for humans.

First there are the ARCHITECTS - they cause change on the planet. The greats of humanity fall into this category.

Then there are ARCHIVISTS - these folks pay attention and can use what the architects make and build upon it. Many scientists and artists would fall into this category.

And finally the biggest group of all, which the other two need in order to play their roles is TOURIST -- here on planet earth for some textural experience.

(Note: Lull me with a good glass of wine or a glass of 25 year old scotch some warm Adirondack evening and I'd be delighted to tell you stories about frustrated archivists and architects and why being a tourist isn't as demeaning as it may sound.)

Next Post: Integral Inquiry

My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise

A bit of whimsy...

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Many of you who are following this blog have also been following my 2.5 year old daughter's Jessie's Show blog and/or have seen my Jessie-isms via facebook so you know that I have quite the little character on my hands. My sister in law,  Linda (check out her blog), was kind enough to share her thoughts about the Everyday Bliss project and came up with Jessie's take on the 13 Bliss Virtues and, with her permission,  I thought it would be fun to share:

I have indeed been following your "Everyday Bliss" project.... I agree--choosing virtues of your own was far better than using Ben's. It does make it more personal--and more timely. As I read your list I was mentally making one of my own...asking myself, "Would I include that....or something else?"

I can't help wondering, though, if "age" would determine the contents of a person's list. If not the list itself, the definition of some of the items. 

I suspect that all your readers will be mentally making his or her own list....and mentally following along with you. You've laid the groundwork well, and I'm looking forward to Monday.  

As I read your Blisslist, though, I couldn't help but associate it with Jessie. It's easy to see that you not only strive for these virtues for yourself, you set the example for Jessie too. 

JOY...I see an image of Jessie enjoying a "Cakefest in the Park." 
ORDER...Building "towders."  (Towders is how Jessie say's towers)
CREATIVITY...Jessie writing and/or drawing the gift cards for the birthday presents for her friends. 
PASSION...OK--she has a passion for cake. :) 
WHIMSY..."Naruto is coming to my house...play with my toys....and then we're going to the grocery store." 
SERENITY..."I want to snuggle with you, Mommy." 
INQUIRY...."Buggy stuck!"  (A beetle clamped on her hand -- she was very brave and even came to the conclusion that "Buggy scared because Jessie is a giant.") 
COMMUNITY....Attending her friends' birthday parties. 
ROMANCE...."You ate all your broccoli. Good job, Mommy!" 
GRATITUDE..."Thank you for holding my hand my friend Lil-li-ya." 
MOXIE..."No, I want that money." 
HUMILITY..."Thank you, Jessie." "No problem, Daddy." 
SURPRISE... Take your pick on this one--because that child is an endless supply of surprises. :)

Thank you Linda! That was very fun!

The Everday Bliss Project begins on Monday!  I hope you join us!

Next Post: The game begins!

My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise

Playing the game

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This is a complicated post because there are probably dozens of ways one could play this game. I'll begin with Ben Franklin's Virtue pursuit (I hesitate to call his version a game because I don't think he called it that.) As I mentioned in my very first post, Ben spent his entire life tracking his progress related to his 13 virtues. He created a little score card  in a journal that he kept with him and in addition to weekly study he would grade himself daily on how he was doing with regard to each virtue. If you are ambitious enough to play this way, I whole heartedly applaud your effort and would love to hear about it! I am not quite up to the task myself and have come up with a modified format!

To begin with, I have elected NOT to evaluate myself on each virtue on a daily or even weekly basis. That is to begin with anyway. I decided it was important to go through the first quarter of the game, 13 weeks for the 13 virtues, and as part of the first week of study each virtue will get, I will also figure out what specifics and measurements I want to incorporate for the rest of the game. It is my intention to create an online survey/log system (which I will make available to you too!) that will allow for more formal tracking in the future.

I am interested in making this game VERY user friendly. I mean it is about BLISS so I want everyone to have fun while participating or even just following along! As part of my study into each of my virtues I will be coming up with what I'm calling "Bliss Initiatives" which will be concrete things you can do in your own life to foster a particular bliss virtue.  Some of these things will be simple; perhaps something like Smile at three strangers today and others will be more time consuming; make a list of the things that bring you joy today or more complicated: hand make a greeting card and deliver it in person.  My thought is for you to participate as much or as little as you want. Some weeks it may be possible to take everything on and other weeks you may only want to follow along as I try things out.

I don't expect that I will be able to do everything I come up with either.  We all have busy lives and this project is intended to inspire not overwhelm!  Some weeks I may have a dozen lofty ideas but be unable to even complete one. Remember I am going on the belief that "we become what we think about" so even the inquiry is likely to have an effect. This is the very thing I am excited to blog about.

So, bottom line, there will be different kinds of participation:

• following along
• playing along with the "Bliss Initiatives" I come up with
• creating your own initiatives

And you are invited to play along as much or little as you want!

I stepped away and Jessie decided to add this:  b vvvjjjjvvbvb      
"I do it while you are gone mommy"

Next Planned Post - Starting the Game Monday!

My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise

Defining the 13 Virtues of Bliss

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Before I even begin today's post I must tell you that Dictionary.com rocks!  I used a variety of dictionary sites as well as wikipedia when doing my research but time after time Dictionary.com had what felt to be the most blissful definitions. The synonyms section is particularly thorough but even the standard listings provided more nuance and depth then other sites. If you are interested in conducting your own inquiry or if you just want to know what a word means then Dictionary.com is the place to go!

So here are the definitions I have chosen for my 13 Virtues of Bliss:

1. JOY - A source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something exceptionally festive or satisfying.

2. ORDER - Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.*

3. CREATIVITY - The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.

4. PASSION - a fervent or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything; experience of strong love or sexual desire.

5. WHIMSY - extravagant, fanciful, or excessively playful expression; an odd or fanciful notion.

6. SERENITY - the state or quality of being serene, calm, or tranquil; composure, peacefulness, peace.

7. INQUIRY - a seeking or request for truth, information, or knowledge; study, scrutiny, exploration.

8. COMMUNITY - Sharing, participation, and fellowship.

9. ROMANCE - To court or woo romantically; treat with ardor or chivalrousness; a strong fascination or enthusiasm for something.

10. GRATITUDE - warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; very thankful.

11. MOXIE - The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage; vigor; verve; pep.

12. HUMILITY - The quality or condition of being humble; imitate Jesus and Socrates.*

13. SURPRISE - A sudden feeling of wonder or astonishment; to come upon or discover suddenly and unexpectedly.

* = Taken directly from Ben Franklin's virtues.

I am expecting that  I may tweak my virtues' definitions and I also welcome suggestions from you.  This entire game is a work in progress so I welcome your feedback at anytime.

Next post: How to play the game

My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise

The Distinctions of Bliss

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For those of you interested in "my process" so that you can create your own personalized game or just because you want to understand the how and why of my 13 bliss virtues please do stay tuned... this is the post for you!  If, however, you would rather not have this much detail and are just waiting for the game to start,  I recommend skipping this post and joining me when I post the Game Specifics or starting next Monday (September 21, 2009 -links added 11/5/09) when I start the actual game.

Once I decided that Everyday Bliss was to be my target I began to consider the distinguishing characteristics of bliss. I began by defining the word bliss and many of its synonyms and slowly as I dug deeper and deeper into the meaning of particular words I noticed that certain qualities would resonate and I would find myself recognizing bliss in them. It was exciting and fun to see how one word would ring true somewhat but subtly was a little off the mark. Then as if by magic the right word would click and I knew that it was a defining characteristic or true virtue of bliss for me!

I am pleased to report that ORDER and HUMILITY from Ben Franklin's virtues remained on my list. ORDER "clicked" because I could palpably recall feeling blissful when I succeeded in bringing something that previously was in disarray to its proper, orderly state. I am also eager to expand on that meaning and include Ben's addendum to ORDER : "let each part of your business have its time." HUMILITY might not have been included if I hadn't read how Ben was pursuaded to add it to his own list.

From Ben Franklin's autobiography: "My list of virtues contain'd at first but twelve; but a Quaker friend having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my pride show'd itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content with being in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinc'd me by mentioning several instances; I determined endeavouring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or folly among the rest, and I added Humility to my list, giving an extensive meaning to the word. "

This total lack of pretension and grace afforded by modeling one's behavior on Jesus and Socrates is entirely blissful so HUMILITY makes my list.

Ben's virtues of Silence and Tranquility are summed up blissfully in SERENITY.  I like Industry and Resolution a lot and had both of these other Ben virtues on my list at one point but suddenly MOXIE revealed itself as the bliss filled amalgam. JOY was almost dropped from the list because it felt like too close of cousin to bliss that I feared it wouldn't distinguish anything new. However, since I have spent the better part of 10 years (thank you Landmark Education!) thinking of myself as the Possibility of Outrageous Joy (POOJ for short lol) I decided it had to make the cut.

I have no idea where WHIMSY originated in this process but the moment the word crossed my lips it solidified a spot on my list. CREATIVITY, PASSION, ROMANCE and GRATITUDE fell into place with nary any consideration. They belonged from the start.  COMMUNITY or more specifically, the fostering of community was an easy pick since bliss is most often found in the company of other people. INQUIRY was almost discovery until I realized the process of looking thrilled me even more then actually finding.

My last virtue SURPRISE was exactly that. I originally intended to leave my 13th slot blank so I could have a catch all for anything I may have missed. I wanted some wiggle room. Heck if I ran out of things to write about perhaps I could even take a vacation during the fill in the blank week! What was giving me trouble was how would I distinguish this undeclared virtue? Writing BLANK didn't seem to fit and then I thought to write SURPRISE but in italics, so as not to be like all the others.  A soon as I pushed the italicize button I felt that knowing click... SURPRISE is a perfect virtue of bliss and had to be given its full member status!

NEXT POST: The Blissful Definitions

My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise

Everyday Bliss

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When I first decided to do my experiment I considered using Ben Franklin's 13 virtues. After all, they were tried and true. Then I thought that coming up with my own virtues would make it a bit more personal but thinking about picking THE virtues that I wanted to live by started to become very daunting. What if I picked the "wrong" ones? What if my choices made me shallow, mean or otherwise less joyous then I really want to be? It suddenly started to seem all lofty and not at all fun. That is when it occurred to me to pick something I wanted more of in my life.

I would follow the old Earl Nightingale adage "You become what you think about." I would pick distinctions that have me "think about" what it is I want. So on to the next dilemma. What is it that I want? As most of you probably already know, I am a pretty happy gal. I have a wonderful husband who signed up agreeing to "Woo and Wow" me forever and I get to be the full time mother of the funniest smartest little girl on the planet. What more could I really want?

My inquiry led me to BLISS. I can remember some really perfect moments of bliss but could it, would it be possible to cultivate it as a regular occurrence? Something experienced EVERYDAY? Bliss is defined as supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment and somehow occurs for me as a special event. Everyday is defined as an everyday occurrence and somehow the two things could be a bit incongruent. Would cultivating bliss somehow make it ordinary or less blissful? I decided it was worth the risk. I mean what could it hurt if I end up raising the bar on what bliss for me is and if I only end up experiencing more fun and joy on a daily basis? Heck this is a game worth playing!

Next post: What are the distinctions of Bliss?

My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise

Let the experiment begin!

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I've decided to conduct an experiment and I'm taking you along for the ride... Some of you may know that I have had a longtime fascination with Benjamin Franklin. When I was in my early twenties I happened upon his Autobiography and was introduced to his 13 Virtues. Ben came up with his list of virtues while in his twenties and tried to lead his life following these virtues. Ben's follow through was remarkable. He put together a scorecard in a small book, which he carried at all times, and he would evaluate his performance on a daily basis. He did this for his entire life, and while one can debate his success with mastery, I am convinced it was huge contributing factor to his accomplishments and life well lived.

Since reading "The Autobiography of Ben Franklin" I have mused about what virtues I would be interested in applying in my life and from time to time came up with lists of the qualities I wanted to pursue. Unlike Ben, I did not follow through.

In addition to tracking all of his virtues on a daily basis, Ben would choose one for additional study each week. In one year each virtue would get concentrated attention four times. I particularly like this idea and will be conducting a year long experiment by focusing weekly on one of the 13 virtues that I think will contribute to EVERYDAY BLISS.

Recently I decided to blog about my experience on the Master Cleanse and I discovered that telling the world I was doing it kept me from letting myself off the hook. I blogged because I said I would, I didn't quit the cleanse when it became inconvenient. Pretty much letting you in on what I was doing helped me to keep my promise. I've decided to capitalize on this powerful trick to keep my personal promise to play my own version of Ben Franklin's game for the next year.

In my version of Ben's pursuit I will concentrate on each of my 13 bliss virtues over the course of the next 52 weeks. Each quality will get 4 weeks of specific attention and I will blog about the impact this has in my daily life. This first week I will explain how I came up with my 13 virtues, develop the general game plan and answer any questions you may have. I will begin the actual game next week. I believe strongly that what one focuses on one gets and bliss is something worth focusing on! As you follow along it is my hope that you too experience a little more bliss in your everyday life.

In my next post: Why "Everyday Bliss?"

My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise