My Ten Commandments

One thing the author of The Happiness Project did when she was preparing to start her project was write a list of Twelve Commandments, which she referred to frequently throughout the book. They included things like "Let it go," "Do it now," and "Act the way I want to feel."

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this. Was it really necessary? I didn't want to mimic every part of Gretchen Rubin's happiness project.

I had kind of decided not to, but I found that as I was reading the book, I kept thinking of commandments that I would like to have for myself. So, before mapping out each month, I decided to just try and see if I could think of "commandments," and then decide if it was worth it.

Well, I did write some commandments; in fact, I wrote ten (without even trying). And you know what? I can see the point of having commandments now. I might make resolutions that I could go overboard on, and having commandments--"no matter what, do this"--would, I think, help me stay on track with the real purpose of the project. So here are my commandments:

1. When in doubt, pray.

2. Be Me.

3. Joy is a sign of righteousness. Misery is a sign of evil.

4. Change what you can, accept what you can’t.

5. You can’t be perfect; just be better.

6. There is always abundance.

7. Have love, show love.

8. Beauty is everywhere.

9. Enjoy failure.

10. Center on Christ.

The list is flexible. I pretty much wrote these all down in one sitting, and they certainly aren't perfect. But I think they're a good start, at least. I'm planning to post them on the wall next to my Resolutions chart for each month.

If any of these seem confusing or strange (#3 is the one I particularly think people will take the wrong way; I do NOT mean that miserable people are evil), I'm planning to post about each one, eventually, and how I'm doing on keeping it. Hopefully I can clear up their meaning. But they each have a lot of meaning for me, and that's what matters.