I'm on a kick of challenging myself to do stuff. I did this 100 days of yoga and words challenge where my goal was to do 100 days of yoga and writing/reading. I kicked ass at the yoga part. I did marginally well at the words. I mostly read and didn't write near enough, but it got done all the same.

Now that I've reminded myself I can do a 100 day challenge, I'm going on a 100 days of study and writing either/or 30 minutes a day challenge. I'm studying to get my Behavior Change Specialist Certification which is kind of like the psychology of personal training. One of the most interesting thing I've studied so far is positive psychology. The lecture I watched this week talked about how psychology used to be more philosophical in which scientists studied the world and people's places in it and these people's happiness. Then, after World War II, so many people around the world were dealing with depression, ptsd, and other mental disorders, psychology shifted to help these people. In the last 10-15 years, some scientist have felt it appropriate to bring money back to the study of happiness--positive psychology. I'm not an expert, this is just how I understand the lecture. I'm sure things go wayyyy more in depth than that.

Anywhosies, the number one thing that was cited as a source of happiness was people's relationships. Which made me think about my number one philosophy--it doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing, it's who you're with that matters. Granted, you obviously need food and shelter and all of those things, however, as I've gotten older, I think that those relationships are not only a measure of happiness, but probably also a measure of overall health and success. Job related happiness was only the 4th highest source of happiness. That's on average, I guess, so I suppose some people may have job happiness as number one. But for those of us who are not career driven, rest assured that job success isn't the end all be all measure of happiness and life success. I'd go as far to argue that happiness is the true measure of success--are you happy in your life? Dang. You're smart. You're doing LIFE right.

At this time when I'm studying about happiness--how to measure it, how to get more of it, how to inspire others to find theirs-- and I'm trying out ways to make myself do more of the things that make me happiest (how is it that yoga and words are the 2 things that make me most happy but are the first to for me to say I don't have time for??) my two best grad school girlfriends have challenged me to a 21 day challenge where we each morning text each other to tell each other our intention for the day. And then check in at night to say how that intention went. I LOVE THIS. I'm a goal oriented person. I need accountability in my goals. I also love lists, planning, improving myself, making myself uncomfortable, positivity, good attitudes (not that I always have one), and checking in. We're 5 days into it. My intentions, thus far, have been: to let things go, write and take a day for myself, find gratitude in little things (isn't it easy to be thankful for big things but forget the small ones?), put my best self forward, and lastly (after the presidential debate last night) to have faith in people but not ignore reality. I'm going to try to keep a list each week of my intentions and see if I can, by the end of the challenge see that I've gotten better at any of these things. Control what I can control and let go of what I cannot, be thankful, be kind, be my best self, and ATTEMPT patience should basically just be my life intentions as I'm not good at letting go and patience and the other three are just plain, in my opinion, things that should be intended every day.

I hope you have lots of people who bring happiness to your life, are thankful for all the little things you are and have, are kind, and love that best version of yourself. I won't tell you to be patient because that's my biggest flaw and you are probably far better at it than me. Happy Tuesday, friends. Hugs.