smile

last night i went to my first mindfulness-based stress reduction class (scheduled during week one). during the class we did a breathing exercise which the instructor ended by asking us to "invite in a gentle half-smile." now i did not feel like inviting in a gentle half-smile or a smile of any kind. i was grumpy, hungry, tired and uncomfortable from sitting in a cold room on an uncomfortable chair for too long. but i did it anyway. and you know what? it worked. just the simple act of smiling actually made me feel happier. who knew?

so this morning when i woke up on the wrong side of the bed, instead of putting on the all-brown outfit i'd laid out the night before, i decided to embrace the smile lesson and picked out a turquoise plaid tank top, my bright green tennies and my sunflower necklace. i immediately felt better.

and yes, i did hula hoop this morning and man, is that a workout. but fun! made me feel like a kid again.

week four: joie de vivre

i am so excited that it's finally week four, the week of all things joyful. in the spirit of this week i am actually going to limit myself to a single resolution: have fun. to get more specific, i plan to embrace creativity, seek inspiration, approach my daily activities with a sense of play (like tomorrow when i plan to replace my usual morning exercises with a good long hula hoop session) and seek joy wherever i can find it.

as for my weekly challenges, i've funned them up a bit too:
food: berries!
declutter: let's call it a treasure hunt for creative supplies and inspirations, the culmination of which will be the creation of an art box and inspiration binder

related reading:
the anti-coloring book
the artist's way
building self-esteem through the museum of I