I received this quote in my email the other day and felt it so fitting:
"One is happy as a result of one's own efforts - once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness - simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and, above all, a clear conscience.
Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain."
-George Sand
I hope that when my total belief in this Happiness Project begins to waver, because I am quite certain that at some point it will, I can go back and reread this quote and remind myself that yes, it is right. It is true. Keep at it. Maybe it doesn't feel like it right now, but it's working. It is!
And this. This one, too:
"In my view happiness includes chiefly the idea of 'satisfaction after full
honest effort.' Everybody is guilty of mistakes and of serious
mistakes...But it need not be fatal to a general satisfaction...But no one
can possibly be satisfied, and therefore no one can in my sense be happy,
who feels that in some paramount affair he has failed to take up the
challenge of life."
—Arnold Bennett
My January goals are coming along. Working out is wonderful, I am tackling tasks left and right, and I am making a point of trying to act more energetic. Now, "organizing and tossing out"? That is one goal that I am failing miserably at! Ah well. As the woman in my On Demand yoga workout said this morning - "It doesn't have to be perfect. It takes time and it takes practice."...
So, onward we go. One day at a time. Learning, working, practicing, and seeing the good in all things.
