Design Your Own Class
For decades, I have managed my life around school calendars, and the fall brings not only cooler weather but also fresh energy, excitement about learning or teaching new things, and new notebooks (still a favorite thing).
I ran across an essay recently by a woman in Germany who celebrates the start of the school year with the level of celebration we generally save for January 1. Every Fall, she creates a “new course for herself”, diving into subjects she is interested in and would love to explore further.
She takes time to dig into topics a bit, but not too much, organizes a syllabus, and makes a weekly plan of content to cover and assignments to complete. She creates her own new course focused on a topic, a new skill, or a book she is interested in.
This gave me an idea. Many of you may be familiar with a book, The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin. I read it years ago and recently revisited it. I propose that we all undertake a simplified version of the Happiness Project and think about how we would design our own class in cultivating happiness and joy. Many of the CBT principles that we discuss are woven into this book in a very practical way. I find the perspective fresh and inspiring. I hope you do too.
I have tried to condense her ideas here so you can pick three things to try and see how they sit with you.
A quick review of The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Over the course of one year, Gretchen dedicated each month to a different area of her life in which she wanted to boost her happiness level. She immersed herself in principles set forth by all manner of experts, from Epicurus to Thoreau to Oprah to the Dalai Lama, to see what worked for her – and what didn’t. The idea is that there is no one-size-fits-all, but we can certainly learn from what others have done and try it on and see what fits. She is now considered one of today’s most influential and thought-provoking observers of happiness and human nature.
Ideas to include in your own course
1. Conduct a Personal “Happiness Assessment”
Identify current sources of joy and areas that cause emotional depletion.
List activities, people, or moments—however small—that bring meaning or satisfaction, as well as those that drain energy. Understanding this calculation is critical.
Make a plan to increase your sources of joy by two this week
Make a plan to decrease your draining activities by two this week.
2. Try “acting how you wish you felt”.
We all know life is not this simple; however, there is something important here. There is good stuff that we could miss if we automatically think that, due to Parkinson’s, this does not apply to us. Rubin states that “acting the way she wished she felt” was one of the most helpful insights she learned in the year of happiness research.
Although we presume that we act the way we do because of the way we feel, in fact we often feel the way we do because of the way we act (Lyubomirsky, 2008)
For more on this: See the book The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky
Make a plan: Take time to digest this one. Experiment with it this week and see what you think.
3. Tackle a Nagging Task
We have talked about mood management within the context of CBT and managing thoughts. This is another tool that is so VERY practical: tackle a SMALL, MANAGABLE, NAGGING task.
Studies show that one of the best ways to lift your mood is to engineer an EASY success, such as tackling a long-delayed chore.
Rubin writes that she was astonished by the dramatic boost in mental energy that came from taking care of these long-neglected tasks that were draining her energy.
Identify the things that keep coming to mind that need attention.
Make a plan: Write down three nagging tasks and just do them. Keep it small. Do not tackle cleaning out the garage! Focus on things that can be completed in 10 minutes or less.
4. Find More Fun
We know how to do this, or at least we knew how to do this. We can find this again. It is there, but I think it requires some intentional effort for most of us. Studies show you must strive to find sources of feeling good and figure out ways to add more of that to each day. I think of Margaret and her beautiful birds. We all need to find our birds!
Make a plan: Find and add one thing to your week/day “just for fun”.
5. It is all about finding what works for you, and what works for you now.
We all need to build joy and happiness intentionally into our lives, especially those of us in the Parkinson’s community. We do not need to give up on this. It is important to understand that even with the demands and limitations of this disease, we can choose to add joy in small ways, and small doses of joy, and small changes every day, add up to significant changes in how we feel and live.
6. Develop a Personal Gratitude Habit
Find your way to get more gratitude into your day. We all know there are many ways to do this: journals, meditation, prayer, and focused awareness, to name a few. Find your path into this space and follow it every day or “dailyish”.
Use CBT reframing skills to balance focus on struggles with acknowledgment of strengths and gratitude.
7. Accept and Adapt to Limitations
Practice compassionate acceptance. Self compassion is the foundation for ALL positive change.
Celebrate adaptations and acts of self-kindness, like seeking help or modifying expectations, as meaningful progress.
8. It is all about process
“The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It is not about any single accomplishment. It is about cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress.” – Gretchen Rubin
Schedule regular brief check-ins with friends or family—virtual if necessary—to nurture social ties, which are crucial for mood and resilience.
Share progress and setbacks in for added support.
Here’s to finding new processes that work for us.
Start thinking today about how you would design your class:
How to Cultivate Happiness and Joy!
