30 years of listening to life-stories, of reflection, adaptation, of being wrong and making corrections, practicing, finding and doing what works for self and others.
Try on the following ideas. Consider how they might be integrated and used in your life. Post them on your bathroom mirror. Act them out. Do one a day. Use for self-decoration. Inhale. Share with friends.
- Name today’s priority.
- Stand up to rude behavior, to disrespect.
- Visualize someone who loves you.
- Be compassionate toward your body.
- See silence as a welcome friend.
- Volunteer for small and large causes.
- Ask for what you want and need, even if there’s no response.
- Have friends of different ages.
- Talk back to your inner critic.
- Learn to sit with and breathe thru emotional discomfort.
- Limit daily worry time to 20 minutes.
- Own, be responsible, and apologize for your mistakes.
- Diffuse shame by sharing it.
- Be proactive on medical/health issues.
- Look for and notate a daily moment of joy.
- Write out, exercise out, your anger.
- Make plans to do what you’ve avoided.
- Put jealousy in a box in your closet, and shut the door.
- Try assertion not aggression (“I” comments versus “you”).
- Embrace behaviors that add laughter to your life.
- Get off the phone and listen to the world.
- Initiate acts of generosity, of kindness.
- Blow perfection out of your mind and into space.
- Bring secrets out of hiding; talk, talk some more.
- Eliminate the word “but” from your vocabulary.
- Learn to live with and accept unanswered questions.
- Speak the truth, honor your word, be trustworthy.
- Keep drama (a waste of time) to a minimum.
- Grow your heart by thanking others.
- Give yourself flowers.
- Believe it’s a gift to be alive.