It’s Friday: time to think about YOUR Happiness Project. This week: Go outside.

I’m working on my Happiness Project, and you should have one, too! Everyone’s project will look different, but it’s the rare person who can’t benefit. Join in -- no need to catch up, just jump in now. Each Friday’s post will help you think about your own happiness project.

This assignment is easy. Go outside.

Go outside into the sunlight; light deprivation is one reason that people feel tired. Research suggests that light stimulates brain chemicals that improve mood and increase motivation.

For an extra boost, get your sunlight first thing in the morning.

Now, I’m the kind of person who loves to sit around the house in my pajamas. If I can manage it, I enjoy the occasional day when I never step foot out of my apartment.

But even though I love staying in, there’s nevertheless something slightly oppressive about being inside all day.

And going from your front door, to the car door, to the office door, and then in reverse, isn’t much better.

At least for me, unscientifically speaking, spending time outside gives a feeling of freedom, of connecting with the seasons (even when the weather isn’t ideal), of breathing fresh air, of not being so trapped by a schedule that I can’t be out in the world.

Plus, if you use your time outside to go for a walk, you’ll get a double benefit for mood and energy. Because I live in New York City, I get a lot of opportunities to walk around outside, and I know it boosts my spirits.

If possible, push the directive to “Go outside” a little further, and try to build some more outdoor time into your life. Go hiking, go birdwatching, get a dog, shoot hoops in the driveway.

People in industrialized countries spent about 93% of their time inside; don’t forget how energizing and cheering it can be to go outdoors.

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I’d read about this fascinating experiment demonstrating “inattentional blindness,” but I’d never seen it for myself until Martha Beck included a URL to the video in her O Magazine article, Wait! Stop! It’s all too much.

Go to this site, by the University of Illinois’s Visual Cognition Lab, and watch the video. As you watch, count the number of times the white-shirted team passes the basketball.

If you want to know the point of the study, watch the video again -- or tune in tomorrow, and I'll explain.

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Comments

[Michelle Potter]

Wonderful! That's one of my 4 resolutions for this year: 1) Take a walk outside; 2) Read my Bible; 3) Buy clothes (I tend to wear the same few outfits until they are nearly worn through); and 4) Prepare for birthdays and holidays IN ADVANCE (no more buying birthday presents the day of or baking the cake while every one else is enjoying the party!)

[Loi P]

I find that going outside is much more fun when you're in a safe area. The area around my house isn't very safe (we once saw a handcuffed guy) so it never made me very happy to go outside.
It's also better when you're in a more "natural" area like a mountain than on a sidewalk.

[Arti]

Hi Gretchen,

Thought you'd enjoy this article:

http://www.boston.com/travel/gallery/nine_happy_places/

Cheers
Arti

[Loi P]

I've been reading your blog lately and I've noticed that you've never addressed the phenomenon of "attachments".
What are attachments? An attachment is an obsession. When a person desires something it means they want it but they feel like life could continue if they didn't have it. When a person is attached to something, it means that they feel like life couldn't continue if they didn't have it. The idea usually is that attachments make a person unhappy and impede spiritual growth.
So, if you ever run out of ideas or something maybe you could write about your feelings on this.

[Red Jello]

Especially in the winter, when we drive to work when it is just getting light, and drive home when it is dark. Some days I just want a quite place in the woods to think!!

[Barbara Ann Kipfer]

Hi. I would like to introduce myself as a fellow blogger/author/website owner. I am http://www.thingstobehappyabout.com and I wrote 14,000 things to be happy about, which I hope maybe you will mention on your site.

Sincerely,
Barbara Ann Kipfer

[Barbara Ann Kipfer]

Hi. I would like to introduce myself as a fellow blogger/author/website owner. I am http://www.thingstobehappyabout.com and I wrote 14,000 things to be happy about, which I hope maybe you will mention on your site.

Sincerely,
Barbara Ann Kipfer

[Gretchen Rubin]

Loi P -- thanks so much for bringing up the subjct of "attachments." I've actually been gearing up to do a lot more thinking about exactly this subject. As I understand it, but I need to learn a lot more, the heart of the Buddha's teaching is to let go of attachments, because attachments bring suffering.

This seems contrary to the Western tradition of deep attachment, deep emotion. We accept suffering as the price for passion.

It's fine to give up attachments to things like a new car -- but what about your children, your spouse? A vocation? I see that less attachment, less love, would mean less suffering, but not in a way that appeals to me. A broad, diffuse, general love of mankind is one thing, and extremely praiseworthy, but there's another kind of very specific love that I also think is important. But as I understand it, the Dalai Lama, for example, would say that such love is a source of suffering. Which, obviously, it is.

Like I said, I'm just STARTING to think about this issue.

[HP van Duuren]

Yes going outside into the Sun does sound like a good idea, and I frequently do. I have a little club that I frequently go Jogging with.

Even on my vacations I go Jogging for example on one of the 'Happy Islands' under the Sun. (or 'The Fortunate Islands' as the 1st century A.D. Pomponius Mela refered to.)

To get inspired about Jogging in nice surroundings be sure to have a look at the 'YouTube Photo Impression' I made during a Holliday some time ago. You can find it at:

http://hpshappy.blogspot.com/2007/05/jogging-on-gran-canaria.html

All the Best,
HP

[ma596zda]

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