Stepping Stones to Inner Peace:
Living Well - Living the Good Life

  • Make a list of the people and circumstances in your life that you are thankful for. Read this list whenever you have a bad hair day and add a couple of new items to it. This is the best cure for depression that I have ever found. 
  • Know that you create EVERYTHING in life that you experience. Whenever anything occurs that pushes your buttons, ask yourself why you created the situation and what are you learning from it. 
  • As a general rule, the smaller your home and yard, the happier you will be. 
  • Try to live as close to work as you possibly can. The ideal is to live within walking distance from your office. 
  • View as many sunrises and sunsets as you possibly can. 
  • Live within your means. NEVER spend more than you earn. Begin to save ten percent of each pay check BEFORE you pay your bills. Pay yourself first by getting your employer to electronically transfer ten percent of your take-home pay to a savings account. 
  • Calculate what your monthly living expenses are and multiply this by six. Try to keep this amount of money in your savings account AT ALL TIMES. If you don’t have this amount in savings now, begin putting aside some money each week for a Six Month Reserve Fund. 
  • Try to break down large projects, at work or home, into smaller, more user-friendly steps. Acknowledge your accomplishments before moving on. 
  • Ask others for help when you are in a bind and help them when they are stressed out. 
  • Surround yourself with objects that you enjoy at home and at work. 
  • If you are fond of sweets, buy fresh fruit and take this into the office for snacks. Or buy something sweet like Tic-Tacs with very few calories. 
  • Instead of buying a daily paper or subscribing to several magazines, spend a few hours a week at the library. It offers a better selection of reading materials, a lower price, and there is no guilt attached if you decide to blow it off. 
  • Human beings, like plants, need lots of water and light to flourish! 
  • Learn something new every day! See if there is an organization in your community that offers cheap, interesting classes. 
  • Learn how to release anger - preferably without anyone that you know being around when you do. Scream, yell, punch pillows, dance - whatever works for you. 
  • We are all afraid of change. However, change is not optional. The only choice we have is whether to change daily step-by-step or to change many areas of our lives all at once in a crisis. If you choose to release your anger by writing a letter to the person you are mad at - NEVER EVER SEND IT! 
  • When you harbor negative thoughts within your mind, inevitably they will lodge themselves into your body. 
  • When we encounter a problem or difficulty in life, our natural first response is to try to avoid or bypass it. However, this problem will usually crop up again and again until we summon up the courage to go THROUGH it, not around it.
  • The key to inner peace is to balance your body, emotions and thoughts. However, balance is unique to the individual and is learned from experience, not by reading self-help books. What balances the author of the self-help book may or may not balance you. 
  • Many people are raised by families that cannot provide the support and nurturing we need to become whole. Inner child work is one powerful way that w e can begin to heal our wounds from the past. John Bradshaw’s book, Homecoming, has many powerful techniques that can help you to connect with your inner child (Bantam Books, 1990). 
  • Get in touch with nature! Run bare-footed through the park. Lie on the ground and watch the clouds roll by. Swing! We live in such a beautiful world that it’s a shame not to take advantage of it. 
  • Try to let go of worry. The more that you worry about something, the worst that it gets. People who worry apply the power of visualization and imagination against themselves. When you find yourself worrying about something, don’t beat yourself up about it. Instead begin thinking about what the best possible scenario or outcome would be. 

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