Happiness Square

I saw Sam Horn speak at BlogHer many years ago (I still use her hands-as-blinders idea), and just came across a TEDTalk article featuring her idea of happiness squares.  It’s pretty simple: draw a square and divide it into the four quadrants.  Write “Doing”  (left) and “Not Doing” (right) over the top two squares.  Write “Want to Do” (top) and “Don’t Want to Do” (bottom) down the left side.

In the top left box, fill in what you are currently (in the present, not this exact moment) doing that you want to do.

In the top right box, fill in what you are currently not doing that you wish you were doing.

In the bottom left box, fill in what you are currently doing that you don’t want to do.

In the bottom right box, fill in what you’re currently not doing that you are thrilled you are not doing.

The top left and bottom right are your happiness squares. Your top right and bottom left are your not-happiness squares.  And then she says: “Next, ask yourself: How long? How long have you been doing these things you don’t want to do? How long have you not been doing things you want to do?”

It’s kind of eye-opening, isn’t it? It’s also not always feasible to stop the things that are making you not happy or begin the things that will make you happy. But I do like her idea of a hooky hour. If I had an extra hour, I would spend the whole time reading and meditating. How about you?