Jana Says

31 Steps for Feeling Happier, Step 10: Read a book

October 10, 2013 by Jana 2 Comments

I actually sat down and made a career vision board yesterday. It felt weird to put on paper what I’ve been thinking in my head for a while yet it also felt good. I don’t know if I’m ready to let anyone else see it but I know it’s there. I can look at it when I’m feeling down and need inspiration and motivation to keep going. As I said on Facebook, it’s not at all pretty to look at but it’s done. It’s probably more reflective of the ugly, messy journey that I’m on than if I had made it all sparkly and beautiful anyway.

While I’m not ready to show you my entire vision board, I will tell you that part of it deals with writing a book. That’s been a long standing dream of mine. I honestly can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a published author (which, I guess I sort of am. I was a contributing author in a book on writer’s block. You can see it on Amazon if you want. If you buy it, I get no money at all but it would make me feel good). I took a step towards that last year when I participated–and won–NaNoWriMo. I’m working on another book this year as well and at some point, will edit them both and start shopping them around.

Because there really is nothing like a good book. And if I can contribute to that, I will have achieved one of my major life goals.

But enough about me. Let’s focus instead on today’s step which is simply to read a book. Take 15 minutes and get through a chapter or two. If you’re not in the middle of one (or two or three like I am), take some time to find a new one and start it. If you don’t know what to read and you suffer from too many good book choices paralysis as I do occasionally, browse Goodreads or Amazon for recommendations. Ask friends on Facebook what they’re reading. Ask me. I’m happy to share what I’m reading, what I’ve read, and what I want to read (I do have a Pinterest board devoted to books but I have not updated it in months).

If you truly don’t have time to read today, then just make a list of books you want to read. Divide them into categories like career, fiction, classics, nonfiction/memoirs and commit to yourself that this weekend, you will choose one book from each category to read by the end of the year. A quote that Dave Ramsey used to say is “In 5 years, you’ll be the same person you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read”. He’s right. Books can have a tremendous impact on you as a person.

They can impact your happiness, too. Reading a book is a great escape from reality. A book can inspire you to make a change or fuel your creativity or take a risk or simply just provide entertainment. Books give us something in common with strangers. They can be great conversation starters. And when you start connecting more with yourself and others, your happiness level starts to go up which in turn leads to us being able to work on other aspects of our lives.

That’s the power of books.

So start reading.

31 Steps for Feeling Happier, Step 9: Design a vision board

October 9, 2013 by Jana 1 Comment

How’d yesterday go? What did you cook? I made homemade marinara sauce and a copycat Chick Fil A chicken nugget recipe. Both turned out delicious, although the sauce definitely tastes better when I use my 80 billion garden tomatoes instead of a can of crushed tomatoes. But sometimes you have to work with what you have (or have the time to work with).

Today, though, we’re going to shift our focus. We’re also going to do a little bit of arts and crafts. Because today, we’re going to create a vision board. Vision boards have become quite popular in the last few years (I blame Oprah) but I’m pretty sure they were around for a whille. For those unfamiliar, a vision board is essentially poster board or a piece of paper that you use to put words and pictures of what you’d like to bring into your life. You can write or draw the words or pictures, cut them out of magazines and glue them, some combination of the two. The idea behind it is that by putting it out to the universe, you somehow draw it to you.

For a long time, I thought the idea of a vision board was bullshit. It just sounds ridiculous if you think about it superficially. But the more I dwelled on the concept, the more I realized that maybe it’s not total bullshit. After all, this is just a way of putting in writing the life we want for ourselves. Instead of just thinking about it in the abstract “oh, I wish I had it”, it makes it real and concrete. More like a goal. And if you’re like me, when you write a goal down, you tend to work towards it.

Another reason I think that vision boards aren’t total crap is that I do believe what you put out, you get back. If you try to stay positive, try hard, work your butt off, and are generally a good person, you’re going to get that back in spades. If you’re an asshole, you’ll get that back eventually as well. With leaving G-d’s plans out of the discussion, I believe there is something to the law of attraction, and a vision board is a part of that process.

The last reason I am starting to believe in them is that I’ve actually seen them work. I want that to be a joke but it’s not. I have a friend who owns a small, local business. She is amazing at what she does and has seen some success with it but she has huge, grand plans for growing the business as well as improving her personal life. She created a vision board and since then has: been invited to the Bethenny show (supposedly this is a big deal), added 2 new regular events to her schedule, found a boyfriend (she’s single), moved into a great apartment, and her cat with terminal cancer has survived 2 months (so far) longer than expected. This is not to negate all the constant hard work she puts in but I’m convinced the vision board helped.

So, what should you include on your vision board? That’s really up to you. It depends on what you want for yourself and your family (hey! A family vision board is a pretty good idea, too. Do that one for bonus points). If you’re stuck, here are a few ideas:

Wealth
Travel
Home
Love
Spirituality
Career

If you don’t want to put all of them on one board, separate them out. That’s probably what I’m going to do. I think I’m going to start with a career vision board and work on that tonight.

So how can this help improve happiness? By looking at the areas you want to improve, you can objectively look at the areas that are great which should make you smile. Also, when you’re taking steps to make yourself and your life better, even in a nontraditional way like this, it gives you that extra boast of confidence that you’re doing something positive for yourself. Which should put a smile on your face. And that external smile should help make you smile internally.

Boost of happiness? Achieved.

31 Steps for Feeling Happier, Step 8: Cook from scratch

October 8, 2013 by Jana 8 Comments

Did you create your motivational playlist yesterday? If you did, please share it on Facebook. Also, get ready to groove along to it while you work on today’s task of cooking from scratch.

Why cooking from scratch, especially during the week when we’re even more pressed for time? It’s simple–if you can pull off cooking a meal from scratch in the middle of the week than everything else will seem easy in comparison. When you’re planning a weeknight meal, you have to be focused, organized, and time efficient. All of those skills are extremely helpful when you’re trying to feel happier about yourself and life.

Also–and this is coming from a former disaster in the kitchen (don’t believe me? Read about the time I melted my kitchen floor)–it is such as sense of accomplishment when you can pull off a healthy, tasty and easy meal on a weeknight. There is just something about taking raw ingredients and turning them into a delicious meal that doesn’t give anyone food poisoning that feels so good. It’s even better when the people you’re feeding tell you how tasty it is! (If you live alone, I recommend sharing your culinary feat with a friend or co-workers.)

Finally, I’ve learned that when I eat better, it helps with my depression. I know there’s science behind this but I hate science so we won’t talk about it but I will say that when I’m eating a balanced diet and cooking most of my food myself, I have more energy. I can stay focused. I can remain motivated. I sleep better (is that weird?). And because I’m saving money, that helps alleviate stress.

I know that, by now, you’re probably thinking that there’s no way you can pull of a complete meal from scratch on a Tuesday on such short notice. You’re probably right. But, if you have 30 minutes to run to the supermarket, you can pull of any one of these three meals:

Lemonade chicken

I got this recipe from my mom. I actually wrote about it once so if you’re interested, check out that post. It involves breaded chicken and a can of frozen lemonade concentrate. That is all. It’s super easy to make and if you serve it with a side of rice and broccoli (or vegetable of your choosing), it’s even better.

Slow cooker barbecue chicken

Buy a 3 lb chicken or use chicken breasts. Pour a bottle of barbecue sauce over the chicken in the slow cooker. Cook on high for about 3-4 hours. Shred chicken when fully cooked. Serve on rolls as sandwiches, or over rice (we’re big rice fans in our house. Is it obvious?), with a salad or carrot sticks or corn on the cob or cole slaw (easy bonus recipe: combine a bag of shredded cole slaw mix with a 1/2 to full bottle of honey mustard salad dressing and 1 tsp of black pepper. Chill for about 30 minutes. Voila! Homemade cole slaw).

Pasta with chick peas, zucchini, and tomatoes

I totally stole this recipe from a Weight Watchers cookbook. Here’e what you do:

Cook pasta according to directions
While that’s going on, heat 1 tbsp olive oil, chopped zucchini, can of diced tomatoes (or fresh chopped tomatoes. I used canned because I’m lazy), and a can of drained and rinsed chick peas. Add some seasoning like Italian seasoning, basil, oregano (about 1-2 tsp worth. You want the flavor but not overpowering). You can also use a can of Italian seasoned tomatoes if you’re afraid of overseasoning the food.
When the pasta is done, drain and combine with zucchini, chick peas and tomatoes. Top with grated Parmesan cheese or sliced black olives or both or none.

All of these recipes are relatively inexpensive, provide leftovers, and don’t take that much time to make. Plus, while the food is marinating or in the slow cooker, you can do other things like go back and work on any tasks in the this series you haven’t yet completed. Or help your kids with homework. Or watch more Friday Night Lights or Sons of Anarchy. Or read. Or fold laundry. Or nap.

It’s really up to you what else you do with your time. But please, take a few minutes and cook a meal from scratch and see the difference it makes.

If you plan on following this task today, what are you going to cook? Leave a link or recipe instructions in the comments!

31 Steps for Feeling Happier, Step 7: Create a motivational playlist

October 7, 2013 by Jana 3 Comments

How’d it feel to spend a day doing nothing? Or at the very least, less than you normally do on a Sunday? Full confession from me: I didn’t actually do nothing. I had to do some laundry and pick up groceries for the week. I also had to cook dinner since our restaurant budget is completely blown (already) for this pay period. Had my husband been home, I would have asked him to do that stuff and continued to keep my couch company while I watched Friday Night Lights and did my nails (full disclosure: I am terrible at painting my own toes) but he had to leave for a week to take some extremely important to his career test. So really, the fact that I couldn’t completely do nothing is entirely his fault.

Or mine. Maybe I could have managed the restaurant budget better and gotten the other stuff done on Friday or Saturday. But blaming my husband is more fun so we’ll continue doing that while we work on today’s task.

I figured that a great way to start off our week and to keep the momentum going for this 31 day challenge is to create a motivational playlist. It’s no secret around here that music is extremely important to me. Music gives words to my emotions, provides a soundtrack for my life (seriously. There is a song attached to pretty much every important and not so important moment I can remember), and can keep me going when I don’t want to. It is as necessary to my life as food and water. I’d give up television before I give up music because I can’t imagine living in a world without it.

But the part we’re going to focus on today is the emotions that music elicits from us. I mean, I could go on a soapbox about how music is crucial to making us well rounded people and how it fuels creativity and creative thinking and even helps with math and following directions and improves self-esteem when you learn to play an instrument or finally figure out the lyrics to a song and how for some kids, music is the only part of school that keeps them going back every day.

I could do that.

But I won’t. Because there are plenty of other places and times to discuss that and for the sake of brevity, we’re just going to focus on how music makes us feel and we can use that to keep us motivated or happy even when we don’t feel like it. That’s the power of music. It can change your mood with one 4 minute song. It can inspire you. It can empower you. It can console you. It can make you smile. It can alleviate some aggression. It can give you permission to feel sadness. Sometimes, it can do all of those at once.

Those kinds of songs are my favorite.

Which is why, today, we’re going to tap into the power of music and create a motivational playlist. I have several–one for when I’m working, one for when I’m working out and not at a class, one for when I’m doing housework, and a bunch more for general listening pleasure. But my favorite one is my motivational for life in general playlist. I use it more often that I care to admit, usually daily, because I like that constant reminder that the songs give me. It’s hard to explain so let me give you a sample of what’s on my playlist. Then maybe it’ll make more sense (warning: it’s very eclectic):

Jana’s Motivational for Life in General Playlist

Maybe–Sick Puppies (this is one of 3 Sick Puppies songs on my list)
Meant to Live–Switchfoot
Freak Like Me–Halestorm
I Don’t Wanna Be–Gavin DeGraw
Troublemaker–Weezer
My Life–Billy Joel
Heaven–O.A.R
Learning to Live–Beth Hart
The Middle–Jimmy Eat World
Awake and Alive–Skillet
Be Good to Yourself–Journey
Reach for the Sky–Social Distortion

There are several that I didn’t include but it’s not necessary to mention them to make the point that these songs, for me, serve a much bigger purpose than entertainment. Which is why, for today, I want you to assemble a playlist of songs that do that for you. Your list doesn’t have to be as extensive as mine, contain the same songs as mine, or even use the same genre of music. What moves you, what motivates you is different that what does that for me.

That’s another amazing thing about music. There’s something for everyone. So take what’s for you and use it. Use it for all its power and use it to empower you.

31 Steps for Feeling Happier, Step 6: Do nothing

October 6, 2013 by Jana 3 Comments

Well, we’ve all survived this first week. We’ve gotten intropective, done a fair amount of work on ourselves and our environment (remember day 2 when we had to clean?), and we’ve started putting together lists to look at when we’re feeling down. It’s been a tough but fulfilling week. We’ve done a lot. Which is why, for today, the task is to do nothing.

If you’re anything like me, you typically use Sundays to get ready for the upcoming week. You go grocery shopping, do laundry, food prep or menu plan, clean, see family, or try to cram a dozen other activities into the one day we’re actually supposed to rest. Sometimes, I collapse into bed on Sunday night more exhausted than any other day of the week.

But not today.

Today, I (and you) are going to take a part of the day and do absolutely nothing. And we’re going to be okay with it. We are not going to beat ourselves up if we call in take out instead of cooking. We are going to give ourselves permission to put laundry off for one more day (unless of course you are completely out of clean clothes. In which case, do some laundry). We are going to let ourselves enjoy watching a football game or 47 episodes of Friday Night Lights or a horrible Lifetime movie instead of being upset that we didn’t clean the bathrooms.

We are just going to enjoy ourselves today and be responsible for as little as possible. Because it’s really fine to take a day off and do nothing.