Finding the Time to be Happy

When I started this blog I had decided to take my happiness into my own hands and run with it, in the form of the Bliss List. For those who haven't been reading from the start, the Bliss List started as the 'Interests' list on my Bebo (yeah... Bebo...) and evolved as it followed me to MySpace and then Facebook and then here. Every time I come across it, it makes me think 'This is how I want to remember my life, and this is how I want others to think of me'.

Toby at his happiest!

The only problem with the Bliss List is that I don't have time to do all of the things that sum up my ideal 'me', between working and working and cleaning and watching TV. So I decided I was going to do one a thing a day from the Bliss List. I managed it for a few days and then once every few days after that, but I fell straight back into The Rut. I suppose, now I think about it, its a lot like dieting or being sugar-free - it takes a few tries to get it right.

I am a person that thrives on challenges, and so I suppose the best way to kick start this experiment of Bliss is with one. I have 50 things on my Bliss List, and so I have written one on each of the next 50 days of my appointment diary, and I'm going to keep you all updated with how well I can stick to it, which ones live up to my expectations and which I actually didn't enjoy anymore. Hopefully I can inspire you, and I will most definitely welcome ideas and suggestions on how I can make the time or fulfill my list!

Those who know me personally will already be laughing at the fact I essentially scheduled in happiness, because I am an organisation fiend. Without doing it though, I get caught up in things I should be doing, and it's apparent I need a little reminder to do something for myself each day. I have already started making room for Bliss.

Courts and I had a chat the other day about the whole thing and I realised that although I claim to not watch much TV, I actually do. It's not because I sit down and channel surf, which in my head is what 'watching TV' seems to be. It's because we have MySky and can record anything that looks interesting - so I do. Once its recorded I feel like I have to watch it because it's there - so I do. I've now deleted all of my recordings except American Idol (because we all watch it together). I've even deleted Shortland Street. Love it or hate it, this was a big deal for me! So now I will watch TV if I sit down and find something I want to watch but I won't watch it because I have to.

I also realised I spend a lot of time doing very little on my computer. Swapping between Hotmail and Facebook and news sites and gossip sites and the blog and achieving very little. Why am I not picking up the book that's been on my bedside table, unopened, for 4 months now? Why am I not running (OK, walking quickly) through the park with my dog Toby, enjoying the dopey look on his face and the way his tongue falls out one side of his mouth when he's so happy that he forgets to hold it in? In 109 sleeps I will be without him for almost 4 months, I have to make the most of him. And why aren't I lying around watching movies and talking with Courts instead of staring at screens, metres apart?

I don't have an answer really. I forget, and that's the honest truth. It doesn't cross my mind to do these things and then in hindsight I wish I had. Enough excuses, now I will do all of these things and more.

I started Friday, when me and Courts went with Squish and her boyfriend to the Chinese Lantern Festival in Albert Park, Auckland. We braved massive crowds to eat Sri Lankan Appam with spicy chicken filling, and we braved them again to each have half a rock melon with the seeds scooped out and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream in the centre (this was the first sugar I had since my 100ml ice cream at Movies in Moonlight so I let it slide - no more treats until I've gone another week 'clean'). The lanterns were awesome, the food was delicious, the company was second to none, but the crowds definitely put me off. The food stalls were separate from the lanterns, down either side of a closed off street, and it took us an hour to walk a few hundred metres. We weren't the only ones to comment that it was like a mosh pit! But that is 'Festivals' crossed off the list.

Something Courts and I decided to try when we talked about making the most of our time together was a Saturday morning breakfast date every week, spending real time together and starting the weekend relaxed and happy. So Saturday Morning we made our way to the Farmers Market at Britomart. Neither of us had been before and we loved it. Free samples at most of the stalls, amazing fresh produce and baked goods. Courts had a coffee and I had a fresh orange, carrot, lemon and ginger juice that was made in front of me. We then each had a Ciabatta filled with roast ham, bacon, egg, cheese, lettuce and tomato, with the veges coming from other stalls in the market place. The Ciabattas were amazing as was the jar of Rewarewa Honey I treated myself to, unprocessed and fresh from the hive. It's too good to waste on toast, I have to admit to dipping in a spoon.

So far, so bliss! I'll let you know how the rest of the week goes.