5 SIMPLE GUIDELINES FOR HAPPINESS

1) Free your heart from hate

2) Free your mind from worry

3) Live simple

4) Give more

5) Expect less

 

“The modern man thinks that everything ought to be done for the sake of something else, and never for its own sake.” – Bertrand Russell

Always proofread

When sending people rejection letters, please proofread. Especially proofread. I recently received this letter in the mail, with the first sentence verbatim:

“When our interviewing was over, and the position for which you applied was to be filled, we found the choice difficult.”

Um. Okay? If I had any feelings of uncertainness about the job, they were cemented with this piece of professional correspondence. And I’d be teaching English at that district?

But thanks for at least sending a letter!

Justin’s Best Sleep Routine

Day –  

• Get up early enough to see the sunset
• Exercise – or otherwise move your body in a pleasant way
• Use your mind
• Eat well and drink a variety of teas
• Meditate or otherwise be mindful at least some of the time
• Reflect on your decisions, and on happiness and sorrow
• Laugh
• Spend time with friends
• Be yourself
• Think happy thoughts (I’m not saying be blindly optimistic)
• Be gentle to yourself and others
• Do something positive for yourself, a friend, a neighbor, a community, the world
• Smile – even when you don’t want to (especially when you don’t want to)
• Say ‘I love you’ to at least one person

 

Night – (before bed)

• Turn off the computer. ALL THE WAY OFF.
• Put cell phone on silent (or off)
• Drink a cup of bedtime tea (chamomile or other restfulness herbs)
• Calm the mind
• Contemplate (if not take) the warm shower, followed by some lotion for your hands, feet and face
• Read something cozy
• Turn on warming blanket (when cold, but turn it off before you get into bed)
• Realize that today is over; tomorrow you can start anew
• Know the world is neither ruined nor conquered in a day
• Tell yourself that bedtime is your time – a place away from worries, pressures, apart from the capitalist, consumerist, chaotic, noisy, extrovert culture
• Tell yourself that this is your peaceful, relaxing, special, sacred time. Bless it
• Understand that tomorrow will come soon enough
• Relax. Let go of your worries.
• Breathe deep. Inhale calm, peace, health, strength in. Exhale worries, frustration, pain out.
• Don’t think too much about it
• Let everything be. Respect your feelings. Know they are only temporary
• Close your eyes, say thank you for everything, tell yourself one thing you like about yourself and then tell yourself ‘I love you,’ smile, and sleep.