1) Educate yourself.
Learning is a pleasure. Learning something new every day is a true pleasure and a gift. Free your mind from “little thinking” and give yourself an opportunity to contemplate the magnificence of being alive.
2) Follow your passions.
You are the only one of you in the world. Your unique spirit is special. Use your life to fulfill your stated purpose. Follow where your heart leads you, and trust you will find a way to turn your innermost dreams into a reality.
3) Raise your consciousness.
Much of the pain and suffering in our world relies on us believing that other people are “separate” or “wrong” or “bad” or “less than.” We are all connected, we are each human beings and we are each sparks of divine Creation. You are what you are, and others are who they are. We all are able to co-exist. When we believe that and act that way, we make a better world.
4) Find a mentor or a role model.
Learn from others who embody your highest and most conscious truths. People like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Gandhi all demonstrated true acceptance, equality, and recognition of our equal nature. Learn from any lessons your role models may be able to share. They have created a path for you: you do not need to follow in their exact footsteps, but you definitely learn from their examples.
5) Volunteer.
Volunteering and doing pro bono work are effective ways to contribute to your community and “step outside” of your own reality for a few hours or a few days.
6) Learn how to maintain your own finances.
Learn about your money and keep a positive relationship with its growth and flow. Money is about exchange of energy: feelings of abundance or lack are connected to your own energetic feelings about how you are participating with the Universe.
7) Computer skills: get them.
Train yourself, read books, or take a class: it’s a fact of the 21st century that your ability to use standard programs will make a difference when you present information, share ideas, and collaborate remotely.
8) Keep a values list.
Keep your list of values in your wallet, on your wall, and by your nightstand. Continually strive to demonstrate these values in your life. Your life *is* your message.
9) Cultivate friendships in your life.
Seek like-minded people who will be your companions (literally, someone you eat bread with), and who will support you in your path. During times of joy as well as in extreme sorrow, your friends help remind you who you really are.
10) Take care of your body.
Your body serves you for the rest of your life, so feed yourself as well as you are able, drink water, exercise, and take all things in moderation. Note any kinds of extreme behavior and understand what drives that behavior. Your body is a great gauge for how your spirit is interacting with your environment.
11) Sleep.
Rest, relaxation, and deep sleep restore your mind, spirit, and body. Good sleep gives you much of the energy you need every day.
12) Care for living things.
Find a small patch of garden or some potted plants, or take care of a pet. Your respect and practice in this area trickles over into other areas of your life.
13) Love your loved ones every day.
Relationships thrive on constant renewal. Your sacred duty is to turn every new day into another opportunity to recognize the spirit and oneness in all of us. Love and feel loved. Practice loving your loved ones as well as your enemies. We are all connected.
14) Whatever you pay attention to becomes a reality in your life.
Choose wisely.
15) Learn a language, play a musical instrument, join a team, share your talent.
Foster communication, create community, and play with others by sharing your joy with them. Peace begins with understanding— conversation, music, and sharing help us remember we are all inhabitants on Earth, our shared planet.
16) Dance.
Every day, do a little jig, stretch your arms to the sky, or wiggle. Most living things move, sway, and stretch: remind yourself of your precious life by dancing.
17) Respect for others begins with respect for yourself.
Strive to treat yourself the same way you treat others: you are fair to others, you are kind to others, you are thoughtful of others’ needs: do the same for yourself. The more you understand yourself and feel the spirit within you, the more you recognize this same connection with others.
18) Talk with the people who raised you.
Your first relationship with the outside world began through those who raised you as a child. Revisit yourself and your relationships with parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. The more you recognize these specific individuals as people (not just as your caregivers) the more you break free of any holdovers or past “conditioning” in your current experience of life. They are who they are. You are who you are.
19) Move towards compassion.
True compassion means more than sympathy notes, tut-tuts, or listening to complaining. True compassion means recognizing who someone is underneath their exterior. Compassion is reaching out and creating a bridge between you and another person. The kind of compassion that gives life and eases sorrow or pain is the kind that recognizes the “oneness” within all.
20) Share.
Your life touches other lives in amazing ways. In the time you are here, you have an opportunity to complete your purpose. Share your knowledge, share your skills, share your home, share your experiences, share your abilities. Look within and find what it is that most yearns to be created, set free, or developed: that in-dwelling spark is the part of you that is everlasting and that touches those around you.
Monica S Flores
Monica S. Flores leads large-scale web development projects in refactoring, redesign/redevelopment, digital platform buildout, & new product launches. She works with US-based & international associations, non-profits, public agencies, & startups on how to reach their communities online. Her focus is to build community, foster connectedness, & use her technology & management skills to make a better world. She believes each of us has an ability/obligation to use our knowledge, ideas, & talents to advance fairness, justice, safety, health, sustainability, & wellbeing. Find her books at Amazon or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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