Habits of a Happiness Whisperer

I do not make New Year's Resolutions. 

Mostly I am always striving to live my best life, well except for when I am not mindful.
Being mindful connects me to what my best life really feels like.
I can trick myself into believing homemade macaroni and cheese is my best life.
I can fool myself into eating chocolate but know it is not the best thing for my life.

You can go ahead and have a little mac and cheese or chocolate but I am an abstainer not a moderator.  This is a concept from Grethen Rubin and her book,  The Happiness Project.  I do way better not eating chocolate than eating a little bit.  It is easier for me to have none than some.  I can manage to say no but not stop.

The year invites new.....the beginning of the year is a time for a fresh start.  

Wipe the slate clean.

Every year I like to celebrate and release the year.  A circle of completion.  I grab a notebook and write what went right, what lessons did I learn, what dreams came true, what did I let go of, what made me happy, what did I discover about myself, what am I proud of myself for, and of course what am I grateful for. By looking back through the year I can look forward to figure out if there needs to be changes in my daily life.  Each daily moment leads to how my life goes and it is about living my best life.  It is much easier to go moment by moment than worry about a resolution. If I don't keep up the resolution, then I will feel guilty and regret that I am not a strong minded, with mighty willpower, PERFECT person. Sometimes it is easy to give up my best life for one that is just ok.  Much less effort but not nearly so satisfying and fun.

This year I have come up with 14 Daily Habits that are my Routine in 2014. (Notice the catchy rhyme)  I have made a checklist that will keep me focused on what I know helps me live my best life.  One of the items on it is floss.  A friend questioned me and was confused because she knew that flossing was something I already do.

 Routine in 2014 

is not a new list of what I can change, 

rather it is a list of 

when I do these things life works out best for me.  

Every day I post a Happiness Whisperer post on Facebook, that is on the list.  Since I shop at Target, I have included a habit to check MINT, a financial storehouse where all my records are in one place.   Gratitude is a necessary way of life for me. Sometimes in the busyness of life it is pushed to the back burner or even forgotten but it is really important to be thankful for my life and the blessings that I have so it is on the list of Daily Habits.  A new habit is Right Size which is my motto for the year.  It is a reminder to say no when I need to, to tidy hotspots of clutter, to declutter every day and make my home and life the right size.  (More on this in a later post)  

These are just a few of my daily habits that make my life work.  It is a visual reminder to strive for habit and not perfection.  I have my checklist on a piece of binder paper for now.  I am working with it this week to see if a word needs to be changed, like exercise is maybe going to be Move or Movement. Exercise could be 10,000 steps, the weight lifting gym, a Leslie Sansone walking video or a walk around the block so I am not feeling like it is the right word.  Maybe.  When I have it nailed down and I am sure of the words in my Daily Habits-Routine in 2014, I will get creative and transform it into a computer document to be printed every week. 

I know you want to know, will I still be doing this checklist at the end of the year?
Not sure, but I will still be trying to live my best life.
So hopefully I will stick with this non resolution way of greeting the new year.
And not feel guilty if I don't.
I will still be flossing for sure!
And feeling very thankful for having the habits of a Happiness Whisperer.

Write a list of habits that make up your best life 

and 

make them routine in 2014.