20 Non Spiritual Things that make us happy

1. Touch water. Whether in the form of a hot bath, a cool drink of water (stay hydrated!), swimming or the ocean, water heals.

2. Sweat once a day. Exercise—find something you enjoy doing, and do it.

3. Eat real food. If it has more than three ingredients, generally, or if you’ve seen an ad for it, generally - skip it.

4. Support, subscribe, read a good magazine (print or online) that’s better than you are - with a hot drink of coffee or tea and a little sunshine and quiet.

5. Keep our clothes off the floor. While a messy house, full of love, can be delightful, our environments reinforce our mental states, can depress us. So let’s practice keeping things relatively clean.

6. Community. Even if we don’t meditate, seeing community will uplift and open our troubled hearts.

7.Don´t be afraid to be a fool. Smile at a stranger. Smile! Laughter, too, is one thing that’s no less delightful even if you’re faking it until you really mean it.

8. Breathein and out, slowly, once a day. Feel one’s breath like the rising, falling waves. Breathe deeply!

9. Never eat while standing or driving. We’ll overeat, generally, and we won’t enjoy the food so much.

10. Never cell phone while talking or walking. Do one thing at a time.

11. Get out in nature. Or, a park. Nature opens us up, and calms our kleshas.

12. Stop obsessing about one’s own happiness. Help others. In small or ongoing ways.

13. Put on a favourite song and sing it out, like we mean it.

14. Pick up trash in the street. Take a bottle out of the trash, and put it in recycling. Save unused napkins from a restaurant for use at home.

15. Watch a movieand eat a little too much ice cream/pop corn/nuts.

16. Put a few photos of loved ones around.

17. Be honest. This includes doing work for money that we can believe in, or finding a way to feel good about it.

18. Sleep more. Even a little more. I have no idea how, but it’s a good idea.

19. Write. Whether a journal or a blog, expressing oneself is cathartic and sensical-making.

20. Meditate. There’s nothing “spiritual” about meditation. It’s simply sitting still, with good, relaxed posture, and paying attention to one´s outbreath.

(c) Waylon Lewis