THE WEEKLY PAGE 📝 No. 237
Creating a Happiness Guide + what to read, watch, listen to and enjoy...
If I asked you to name five things that make you feel happy, could you do it on the spot?
What if I asked you to name five free things that make you happy? Or five things that make you happy and take less than 5-minutes?
Knowing how to calm our nervous system and reset our mind is a powerful tool that can support us throughout the year by helping navigate the inevitable ups and downs.
I do this by creating a Happiness Guide (something I learned from my friend, Erika!) and it’s one of my favorite exercises to do at the beginning of the year. You simply make a lit of things within each of your five senses (things you can touch 👆🏻, taste 👅, see 👀, smell👃🏻, hear👂🏻) that make you happy. When you need a little pick-me-up you can reflect on this list for quick inspiration.
I always recommend trying to have things within each category that are at various price-points and require different amounts of time (5 mins, 20, mins, 1 hour, etc.!) so that you can always find something to support you no matter your budget or how much time you have.
You can click below to download my free PDF for creating your own Happiness Guide. If you’re using my 2025 Habit Tracker you can also find a template on the “HAPPINESS” tab (learn more here).
THE 2025 HABIT TRACKER IS HERE! ✅
In case you missed it, I recently released my 2025 digital habit tracker for Google Sheets. Check out the post for a video tutorial and access to the file. LEARN MORE HERE.
And join me for our first Monthly Review Day of 2025 on Monday, January 6th from 9-10:30 AM CST. The invite will go out via email this week.
📚 READ: The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates was named one of the best books of 2020 by Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Paste, Town & Country, The New York Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal. It’s been on my list for a long time, and perhaps 2025 is finally the year I read it! Read the synopsis.
📺 WATCH: Looking for something new to watch? I loved perusing NPR’s recent list of 50 Wonderful Things from 2024. The list features many things I’ve already watched (and recommended in this newsletter!) but there are plenty of new things I want to check out.
🎧 LISTEN: Last week I published The Yearly Page for 2024! This summarizes everything I’ve recommended to read, watch, listen to and enjoy over the past twelve months. If you’re looking for a long list of podcasts and audiobooks to dive into — here ya go!
🧡 ENJOY: After the madness of holiday cooking, it always feels nice to have a few simple meals to lean on. My go-to is always a nice soup with frozen bread that can just be tossed into the oven. Planning to try this Maple Roasted Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup from Lemons and Zest.