Week 4: What Are You Proud Of?

Every week I get a lot of blog posts and newsletters delivered to my inbox having to do with positivity and this week there was one from Happify with a link to this video with people of all ages talking about what they're proud of.

This made me start thinking a lot about "pride" and how it contributes to happiness.

When we're proud of ourselves doesn't that come off as kind of boastful? In the video,  I felt happy to see the people who were proud of their own accomplishments, and I absolutely feel happy myself when I overcome an obstacle or have accomplished something challenging.

When pride becomes arrogance, it can be a problem, though. I saw Carol Burnett on the Conan show last night and she told about a time in her 20's when she "bombed beautifully" because she had become "cocky." 

Here's a picture of my grandson playing the xylophone at his first grade music concert last night. He took this responsibility very seriously and I felt so lucky to be able to be in the audience and see his own pride as well as the parental pride in the faces of my daughter and son-in-law. That heart-warming, tears-welling-behind-your-eyes feeling you get when you watch your kids on stage? Well, when you're a grandparent, you not only feel it by watching your grandchildren, but by watching your children watch their children.

As we come to the end of January, I feel really proud about my "happiness" resolutions. I was able to keep up with the different books I've been reading about positive psychology, went to church every week, did plenty of small "random acts of kindness," kept a gratitude journal, smiled more, socialized a lot, laughed a lot, and kept up with my weekly blog posts.

I had a couple of disappointments, and I felt proud that (using all my great knowledge of happiness) I spent very little time feeling down or worrying about stuff I couldn't control, and really focused on all the things that I'm happy about.

Here are some happy moments from Week 4 of 2016:
* Laughing hysterically at Stephen Colbert with my friend, Rebecca
* Ping-pong with friends
* Watching Broncos win in the playoffs! (The first football game I was ever interested enough to watch with no one else in the room!)
* Getting in shape by running in sunny Denver
* Having lunch and coffee dates with friends Ravi, Kathy, Jim, Michael, and Chris
* Being very productive with work stuff and home projects
* Getting out my Valentine's decorations
* And, of course, watching my grandson sing and play the xylophone in his musical performance!