Do you ever wish life came with an instruction manual? After all, our existence does offer up challenges regularly and oftentimes we have no clue. As an avid proponent of continuous self improvement, I’ve read a lot of “self help” type books over the years. Oh yes, everything from “7 Habits of Highly Successful People” to “Who Moved My Cheese?” to every Guide to Life in between. What I’ve found is that there are about a million things we could do to live a little better. And it’s true. We should always be looking to do so.
Our dear friend Alaina Rivas recently posted this note on Facebook entitled: Life’s Handbook, offering up some tips in the areas of health, personality, society, and life in general. Never hurts to focus on the right things. See below.
Life’s Handbook
Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
5. Make time to reflect.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes’ walk daily. And while you walk, smile.
Personality:
11. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t overdo. Keep your limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does..
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like
algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful orjoyful.
34. FOOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. Resolve to start every day in a GOOD mood.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.
Last but not the least:
40. Tell this to everyone you care about.
“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from center. – Kurt Vonnegut”
DNC Worldwide 