Happiness Project: Join a group

When I was reading The Happiness Project book, some of the ideas struck my fancy and some did not. Starting/joining a group was part of the "did not" list. Here's why. Who has time to join a group? We are already booked. On a recent Saturday we had 4 events that we needed to attend: tee ball game, graduation party, first birthday party, and a wedding! I can't imagine how crazy things will be once the kids are even more involved in sports and things like that. Another reason is that I'm not really..."group-y". I have always preferred to do my own thing and follow my own schedule.

I always thought if I did join a group it would be a type of autism support group- like a group of parents who have children close to Kael's age who are autistic. You know, people who are going through the same thing as me. My pediatrician gave me several phone numbers and meeting times of such groups but I just never made it. Nerves, maybe?

Kent recently suggested to me joining in a couple's study that our church is doing called Love Talk, by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott. At first I was really interested, but then easily convinced myself, "we're too busy to commit to an hour and a half meeting every week for seven weeks," and questioned "who will watch the kids?". But it was important to Kent, and I knew it would be intersting stuff to read and talk about so we signed up. We've been to three sessions so far and I am thoroughly enjoying being a part of this group. There's also a workbook that coincides with the book and once we've completed each exercise, Kent and I discuss what we've written. It is fascinating stuff, I tell you! If you and your spouse haven't read this book I would highly recommend it. There are also videos that go along with it that we watch as a large group each week, then break into small groups to discuss further. Truly, being part of a group has brought me much happiness.

I'll write some more about the actual book and what Kent and I have learned at a later date- maybe once we complete the study. Look forward to that! In the meantime I will leave you with a quote that I read in the LoveTalk book, although the quote itself is from Reinhold Neibuhr.

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."