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 right now. Each Friday’s post will help you think about your own happiness project.
The other day, I was waiting to pick up my three-year-old from nursery school with a scrum of other mothers and babysitters. I noticed that one of the mothers, while walking down the hallway to the classroom, gave a little skip-jump as she walked.
I was absolutely struck by that. This one little action made her seem so vital, so energetic, so…joyful.
Along the same lines, I’ve noticed that I get a charge of energy when I run down stairs instead of walking down them. There’s something invigorating about having your two feet leave the ground, in a jump or a run.
Wasn’t there a photographer who was famous for taking portraits of famous people, jumping?
Children run and jump constantly, but as we get older, our feet leave the ground less often. Unless you run for exercise, you might go a very long time without lifting off the ground.
But after I saw that mother do her jump step, I started cultivating the opportunity to jump around more. It’s harder than you might think. I run down stairs. How else, though, to work it into an average day? Mostly I goof around with my kids or do a little hop-skip as I’m walking down the sidewalk.
One of my most important Happiness-Project resolutions—and also my Third Commandment—is to Act the way I want to feel. We think that we act because of the way we feel, but many times, we feel because of the way we act.
By acting energetic and cheery, I make myself feel energetic and cheery. And a great way to act energetic and cheery is to JUMP.
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I always like checking out Marginal Revolution, and this post tempted me to add two books to my to-read list.
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