Today is the third day of the second half of the year. Mixonian hopes that things are going well for you and that you are being very very nice to yourself.
Being nice to yourself is essentially forgiving yourself for not being perfect while making it easier for you to succeed in your endeavors. Having high expectations for yourself and others is a great motivator...up to a point. If you think about it, life runs along a grid of paradoxes: be disciplined, but have fun; be spiritual, not a religious fanatic; make money, don't be consumed by money.
Aristotle's well-known suggestion was moderation in all things. We're still not sure if that means moderated moderation.
Being very nice to yourself sets a wonderful example for how others should treat you, too.
21 Easy Ways to Be Especially Nice to Yourself:
1. Get enough sleep. If possible, take a nap.
2. If the day is hectic, find a space to do nothing for 15 minutes. This will actually make you more productive and focused.
3. Go to the library and check some books that you would never buy, but are curious about.
4. Write a letter...on stationery.
5. Go over your list of things to do and eliminate/postpone a fourth of them. Remember Pareto's Law, the 80/20 rule. (If you don't remember, it's that 20% of input yields 80% of the output.)
6. Write out what an ideal day for you would be. Ideally, this would be in your journal.
7. Hire someone to help you with the house, even if it's just once in a while.
8. Organize a drawer, or a chest of drawers.
9. Clean out the refrigerator.
10. Think in terms of baby steps for any area in which you feel really frustrated: exercise, diet, saving money.
11. In Suzuki music training program, parents are taught that their main job is to do whatever it takes for their child to experience success: lower the bar, encourage, reward good behavior. Consider making your own success inevitable.
12. Sign up for a cooking class or a wine tasting. If you're in the Atlanta area, click on the link to the left for www.tasteandsavor.com and Nancy can help you with this. Actually planning a small cooking class or wine tasting is a great way to entertain close friends.
13. Try a new healthy food. My personal suggestion is organic dates, but anything healthy works. I'm planning to try collards soon.
14. Remember that no one oppresses you without your permission. If you feel overwhelmed, that's your problem to solve.
15. Forgive others. Let it go. There is no room for resentment in life. Too risky.
16. Take the magazines laying around, go through them and cut out pictures that inspire, save articles that interest you (file them!) and throw the rest away.
17. You now have permission to give away the crocheted toilet paper cover your Aunt Edna made for you. Remember William Morris' advice, "Keep only those things that are useful or you believe them to be beautiful."
18. Be brilliant and start looking for Christmas gifts now.
19. Work on your gratitude list. Think of 5 different things for which you are so grateful. What you appreciate, appreciates.
20. Think of one word or short phrase to guide you for the rest of this year: organize, lighten up, experiment, focus, baby steps.
21. Plan a vacation.
Speaking of vacation, Mixonian will be taking her own advice and taking a vacation. Back July 14.
Lorraine Lewis of Pennsylvania won the alpaca scarf. Look out for a new drawing in August.
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