Project Happiness Articles — acceptance

Journaling brings happiness because it helps us to see the forest through the trees. The act of writing helps us prioritize the people, places, activities, and work that foster joy and meaning in our lives.

“We want to reclaim the word ‘manic.’  The vagina monologues has done an incredible amount of work de-stigmatising female sexuality and we wanted to do the same thing with mental illness.”  Zack and Elisa started off soliciting stories from Facebook and Sanford communities and put together 15 stories of mental illness, from sad and heartbreaking, to hilarious, uplifting and, powerful.  Manic Monologues ran three sold out shows in May 2019 at Stanford and will run at UCLA in February 2020.

The more we are able to repeat these positive affirmations, the more they become hardwired in our brains and in our very essence. Here are some highly effective affirmations you may choose to include in your everyday life when you feel them to be most appropriate. When you’re reciting these affirmations, it’s good to put them into your own words, into the voice that you would normally use so they resonate more with you.

"Happiness is inside of you, and you can achieve it anytime you like, no matter the outside circumstances." How many times have you heard this phrase? Although it sounds completely legitimate, it seems unachievable, at least to you. Most of us are like this. Here are the steps you can take starting today to bring more happiness in your life.

Maintaining comparison as a practice in our minds is only going to jeopardise our inner security and capability to feel strong in who are. And that's just not on. So, here's how we can put a stop to comparing and harness a more positive, joyful thinking practice instead.

Our oldest left for college last fall (yep, that was about a year ago). It has taken me this long to process how such a milestone affected me, and to understand that even the departure of one child can turn a household sideways. Notice I didn’t say upside down (like the dark world in Stranger Things). That’s because I don’t think an Empty Nest is a bad thing….it’s an adjustment.

I am a woman who has started over many times and a certain joy accompanies the task of unpacking, at rediscovering a teapot, a vase, pieces of my self I temporarily forgot in the span of mere days, of choosing where these belongings should be placed within the walls of the new home where I prepare to start my life yet again. But as I begin to unpack I’m struck with realization: these aren’t my boxes.

Thoughts precede action! But the key word in that phrase is action. If we have our “ideal” life only in our heads and written out as lists that we look at occasionally throughout the year-we most likely will never reach our “ideal” self. 

In lieu of the two very tragic deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain this year, I want to remind all of you to be extra kind to one another for this is a perfect example of, “you have no idea what others are going through”. You may not feel that the subject of mental illness pertains to you, but it should, as more than likely someone in your life is going through something that you know nothing about.

Anxiety – what is it? There are so many different levels of Anxiety and some can be so severe that could lead to a panic attack (which if you haven’t experienced - can be so overwhelming it almost feels like a heart attack! ).