All that excitement over the New Year has left me itching for my normal new-month resolution routine.  I’m glad it’s February 1^st.  I most definitely am feeling the need for a clean slate.

February is the month of LOVE.  Well, screw that. I plan on focusing on just that, just not romantically.  I’m going to be my own Valentine all month long by indulging in the things that I love, prioritizing my well-being, and making personal happiness the over-arching theme in my life.  Whether that be professionally or personally, my goal is happiness.

Consider this the first official month of Project Dalai Lama.  Maybe next month I’ll shave my head and wear robes, the DL does it and he seems like a fairly content chap.

What’s in store this month:

• Meditation.  I’ve just recently embarked on a meditation practice, and it has most definitely added a sense of calm to my life.  These little periods of quiet and self reflection really do make the world seem more manageable.  I’m aiming for a daily dose.
• Yoga.  I will admit that yoga and I have had a long and not-so-simpatico relationship in the past, but I’ve come to learn that it’s not how yoga makes me feel while I’m doing it (like my hamstrings are going to divorce me for a younger, more flexible broad), but how I feel after: All serene, and self-accepting.  My goal: 2-3 days per week.
• Journaling.  Like I mentioned last week, journaling has never really been a big part of my life, but I’ve started carrying around a red journal (reminiscent of Bridget Jones’s Diary minus that dreamy Mark Darcy) and dumping within its pages EVERYTHING.  Anything that comes to mind: Sad things, inspiring quotes, pictures, words that get stuck in my head.  I’m not sure it would make sense to the outsider, but it has definitely helped in the whole letting go of negativity aspect of my inner monologue.
• Jungle it up—go veg.  I read this great diet book a few years ago that got very little attention, it’s called The Jungle Effect, and inside the doctor who wrote it (Dr. Daphne Miller—no relation) notes that the way that indigenous diets were created was by taking stock of how we feel after we eat.  If the natives felt good, they kept eating whatever that was in the future.  If they felt not so hot, well that was removed from all future menus.  Lately, I’ve been feeling pretty icktastic when I eat meat.  Because how we feel physically has a lot to do with how we feel mentally, I’ve decide to make this month an experiment in vegetarian eating.
• Get busy.  I’m an extrovert.  Not in the super gregarious/talks to strangers with candy sense, but in the sense that being around people energizes me.  Unfortunately, the winter months often mean that everyone goes into hibernation.  Myself included.  In order to make my life happier this month, I’m making my social calendar fuller.  Who wants to hang out?
• Wear makeup and matching underwear.  When I feel pretty, I feel happy.  Simple.
• Humor my whims of fancy.  Buying flowers, getting my nails done, trying on dresses I’ll never be able to afford, taking a vacation day on a Thursday just for the fun of it.  Oh, yes, February is going to be that kind of month.

What’s in store for your month?  Will you join me in operation Dalai Lama and make the purpose of life to be happy?  Or, perhaps focus on buckling down on those New Year’s resolutions?

Kim