HappyUP!!! The Jolly Jottings

We've been tripping down the HappyUP!!! path - for quite some time. Longer than the last 7 days. I can link you to some archives and probably will at the end of the page. For now, it is time to comment on The JollyJottings.

References have been made to keeping track - of as many possible HappyUP!!!s during the day as possible.

No...I don't want you to obsess over capturing every single one - ....oh...wait...yes, I do. You are talking about making a change. Talking doesn't get much done. DO...DO...DOing gets things done.

Whenever you are going to make a valuable change - you want to consider OVERdoing for a bit. It will be OK. You are on this side of the continuuim right now and want to move it up a bit. You need to go a little too far. See, if you don't go too far, you never really know how far you can go and what the right place for you to land at is.

You already know that you are parked to far on this side - so you need to travel to THAT side. You can double back if it's so terrible over there. Really!!! It's OK. No spankings for going too far in this program.

The JollyJottings are really quite simple - and I like simple.

First - I hope you already have some method to capture your observations wherever you are. A journal of some sort that you keep with you is optimal. I know. You are scared, "what if I lose it and someone else gets it or my family finds it...what will people think of me?"

Problem one - YOU are spending TOO MUCH of your life WORRYING about what probably won't even happen. Even if it does, YOU are PUTTING TOO MUCH emphasis that people really have that much time to care about what YOU are up to. By and large, they are much more focused on themselves.

By caving to the WORRY - you deny yourself the option of moving forward. You are creating your own boundary/excuse/rationalization not to change and experience the wonderful benefits of growth.

What if a plant said - "hey, I better stop right here. If I get any farther out of the ground, some insect is going to find me and eat me all up." You and I would STARVE!!! The plant would not have fulfilled it's purpose of developing fruit that it can give to others for sustenance. You are no different...

The world needs your fruit!!! - so go get yourself a journal, notepad, 3x5 cards, and a pen and commit to having something on you at all times.

Even if you are scared - I am not talking about a diary here. I am talking a way to capture information. If you keep the tool at the ready, you WILL use it.

Here is what mine looks like so far today:

HU - woke up early on my own...no alarm
HU-got the kitchen counter cleared of clutter
HU-fixed internet browser
HU-went to Kinkos and was able to do some computer work before I fixed the browser
HU-clean sheets...I had clean sheets last night
HU-I am feeling really perky this morning
HU-I boxed up some stuff
HU-I got into an excellent groove and meditation with my guitar

Now, you will notice - that I put an "HU" in front of these. This is so I can pick out the HappyUP!!!s easily at the end of the day amidst my other jottings...notes.....to do's....ideas....sketches...phone numbers....etc.

SIDENOTE: you will notice that, while frustrating at the time, the issue around the computer was ended with gratitude and a sense of accomplishment on being able to fix it as I am not a technonerd. This is another benefit of the program. I now fully enjoy the process rather than lament, "oh...I hate my computer."

Go back to the jottings - now, how scary would it be if those notes fell into "the hands of the enemy." Not too bad.

(SIDENOTE: who are those enemies for you anyway?....hmmm....you may have some work to do if you believe the enemy is always nearby. If you embrace just about any faith, they are grounded in love. Enemy conjures up hate in my mind. Take Jesus, for example. He decided the 10 Commandments weren't all equally important so he broke it down to two. Commandment 1 - love God. Commandment 2 - love your neighbor like yourself...with neighbor meaning friendly/bad/awful/rude/kind neighbor. In other words, if they are on the planet they are your neighbor. Jesus even loved the people that killed him. If He loved them, do you think he would have cared what they found in His journal. Quite the contrary....He WANTED HIS journal to be found. Wow.....I am going all theological on you. Time to get back on topic)

I'll just close with - the JollyJottings are part and parcel to the HappyUP!!! process. Sure, you can get by with just thinking back about three things at the end of the day. If you don't do that now already, you are better than you were.

Go for optimal - use the JollyJottings to capture as many things that go right....rather than dwelling on things that go wrong like you do. You still have to deal with the poop.....but don't plant your nose in it!!!! How do you avoid doing this?

JollyJot.....and HappyUP!!!!