My Happiness Project - Pollyanna week - BLEH

It's Happiness Monday! I love My Happiness Project, where I decided to spend a year "finding" happiness with the help of Gretchen Rubin and her awesome book. Check out her website for more information. And buy the book! It's never too late to start your own Happiness Project.

Last week, I declared the month of June to be attitude month - I was going to have a good attitude about summer, its highs and lows, its banalities and boom weeks.  I also declared last week to be Pollyanna Week, as defined by and suggested by Gretchen in her book. 

What a colossal failure that was!  To just say "this week is Pollyanna Week," with no guidelines or boundaries, no PLAN for it was disastrous.  So by Saturday when I yelled at my kids in the car, violating one of my other resolutions for the year (NO YELLING - EVER), I realized that one way to guarantee unhappiness is to set yourself up for failure. 

Because then, not only are you unhappy about WHAT you're failing at, but you're unhappy about the fact that you've failed! 

So THIS week it's Pollyanna week AGAIN.  And maybe next week too.  I'm gonna do it till I do it right, darnit! 

Here is how I'm going to do a better job of Pollyanna week this week (most of these borrowed from Gretchen):

1. Wear a reminder bracelet.  What better way to remember to act "Pollyanna" than by wearing a large bracelet to remind me?
2. Think of things I don't like in a positive way.  Instead of "I hate laundry," how about "laundry provides clean clothes and folding warm laundry is the best."
3. Don't talk about things that annoy me.  This one's tough b/c I have to talk about some annoying things this coming week.  Hmmm, what to do?  Maybe it's to refrain from talking about the FACT that they're annoying, just get through them.  Grin and bear it, if you will.
4. Engage in "downward comparisons."  See your good fortune and blessings in relation to other's challenges.  For example, someone, somewhere lost a loved one yesterday.  I didn't.  I am blessed.  Someone will learn they have a life-threatening illness today.  I don't have that - I am blessed.  That kind of thing.  I talk about it a lot - "appreciate these moments - even the annoying ones - they won't last forever." 
5. Get back to it - NO YELLING AT THE KIDS.  EVER.  Until this week, this has been rather easy.  A variety of happenings made me fall off the wagon this week - but I'm getting back on.  Nothing makes me angrier than when I allow my anger to overwhelm me and lose my temper with the kids. 

 So there you have it - Pollyanna Week Part Deux. 

OR if these don't work, maybe I should just lock myself in my room for a week?  Instant success!