None of these cost much. Most of them don’t cost anything at all.
Learn to love waking up.
That’s what morning rituals are for. Forget productivity. It’s about looking forward to the dawn of a new day. Have your coffee. Do your yoga. Read. Whatever makes you excited for your feet to touch the ground when you wake up.
Love your mornings, love your life.
Do the crossword puzzle.
For years now I’ve watched my Dad do the newspaper crossword every morning. It’s a game. Exercise for your brain. A maze for your mind to zip through.
When it comes out the other side, it’ll be brimming withs parks of creativity.
Laugh about everything.
Children do. Why can’t we as adults? Oscar Wilde said life’s too short to be taken seriously. Laugh about your mistakes. Laugh about your own, stupid jokes. Laugh about funny cat videos. Laugh about your friends’ stories.
Laugh about the cosmic joke called life.
Say it now.
Fake news, hate news, sad news, late news. We’ve got too much of these already. Spread a little positivity. When you like the soup, say “I like this soup.” When your friends make you happy, say “You make me happy.” When your coworker does a good job, say “Thank you, good job.”
Negative people are louder, but not the majority. Let them know.
Hug everyone.
Virginia Satir, a family therapist, suggests we need four hugs a day for survival, eight for maintenance and twelve for growth. Regardless of the exact science, the answer to how many hugs we need is more.
It’s hard to overdose on hugs. Be a hugger.
Eat with family.
Eating is the oldest social event of humanity. That makes family dinner the oldest source of happiness. Maybe your family is your friends. Maybe it’s just your mom. Or your sister. But even the largest table can only hold so many.
You are who you eat with. Choose wisely.
Watch time pass.
What luxury to sit and watch. To wander and stop. To let life pass by on purpose and say: this is what makes it beautiful. Take a walk. Watch the sunset. Sit in a café. Folks say they like ‘people watching.’ That’s not it.
We like watching life.
