1. Be humble. As Henry Thoreau once said, “Humility like darkness reveals the heavenly lights.”

2. Listen to the rain. The insistent rhythm of raindrops bouncing off a roof or onto a backyard can have a lulling effect. During the day, appreciate the rain’s ability to block out less welcome sounds; at night, relish the snugness of being warm and dry in bed as the rain falls.

3. Say the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference.”

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Source:
1001 Ways to Relax by Mike George

Another gift from Cathy Cohen:

Get ready to be impressed.

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Simple Living by Georgene Lockwood, 2000.

Chapter 1: Consuming Passions – How the World Got Un-Simple

Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessaries.” — Mark Twain

The Least You have to Know

1. In order to have a high quality of life for everyone, we need to learn how to lower consumption and conserve natural resources.
2. Advertising helps create our consumerist culture, along with peer pressure and unfulfilled emotional needs.
3. We can begin to simplify our lives by becoming more critical of “buy” messages, experimenting with lowering our consumptiona, and paring down what we already have.
4. Simple living doesn’t mean poverty and doesn’t necessarily mean relocating or living without technology.

Some Ideas to Get You Started

1. Seek out people in your community who either have simplified their lives or are seeking to do so. For now, just start to collect information and notice what people are doing. This will help you sort out what makes sense for you.
2. Visit the dump! Sounds icky, but do it anyway. What do you see that could have been resued, recycled, repaired or restored? What was once useful but now outdated? What was a fad that’s no longerin vogue? Start thinking about how you want to add (or stop adding) to this pile.
3. In one hour of TV viewing, count the number of adds you see. Don’t forget to include products shown or mentioned within TV shows. Write down the name of the product and any secondary motivations being portrayed such as status, acceptance, self-worth or freedom, to name a few.
4. One way to interrupt the “see, buy” process is to delay it. Write down what you think you need in a wish list and give it time. Then decide if it fits into your real values, the goals you’ve set for yourself, the bigger picture of who you are and who you want to be(read ‘best self’).
5. Use the library instead of buying a book you’ll only read once and then put on a shelf to gather dust. Borrow it instead!

• To the extent you know love, you become love.
• Love is more than an emotion. It is a force of nature and therefore must contain truth
• When you say the word love, you may catch the feeling, but the essence cannot be spoken.
• The purest love lies where it it is at least expected — in unattachment.

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Source:
The Way of the Wizard: Twenty Spiritual Lessons for Creating the Life You Want by Deepak Chopra

One of the highest compliments an individual can receive is to be called a person of character — a class act! Thomas Leonard’s Class Act 100 assessment is designed to help you understand where you are along this path and to give you ideas for areas worth developing. While there are 100 points in total, I will post one section of the assessment: 10 statements under a specific category.

Hot to use this assessment. As you read each statement, circle 1, 2 or 3. A “1″ means the statement is SOMETIMES true. A “2″ means the statement is OFTEN true. A “3″ means the statement is ALWAYS true.

F. SELF

1 2 3 Confident. I feel confident, from the inside.
1 2 3 Secure. I am safe. I fear almost nothing.
1 2 3 Content. I am very satisfied with myself/life.
1 2 3 Integrated. I don’t lead separate lives; all of my goals work together to forward me.
1 2 3 Self-caring. I take better care of myself than anyone I know.
1 2 3 Self-Motivated. I don’t relay on others or on potential consequences to motivate me.
1 2 3 Capacity. I can handle all that life brings.
1 2 3 Compassionate. I naturally forgive and am always understanding others’ mistakes.
1 2 3 Mature. I never behave childishly.
1 2 3 Capable. I have found my strengths and I have developed them fully.

_____ Score (30 max)

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From The Class Act 100 Program developed by Thomas J. Leonard and Coach U, Inc. Modified by LMK.