The Art of Living Well

(I’m sharing some personal thoughts on my thought-wall. If anyone finds them disagreeable, please feel free to skip them.)

One. Make a list of all the actions from your past that have brought suffering into your life, keep it by your pillow, and read through it once before going to sleep or spend 5 minutes thinking about them. Plan how to stay away from such actions. The next time you’re about to do the same thing, the memory of your previous failure will surface in your subconscious. If you haven’t planned how to keep yourself away from it, the memory of past failure might affect the quality of your next attempt.

Two. Instead of worrying about what you need to do in the next 10 days, think about what you need to do today and start working on those tasks. This will make the work seem easier.

Three. Write a love letter once a week to someone of the opposite gender whom you may never have—a different person each week. Write about their various qualities. You can share it on Facebook if you wish. This brings pure mental joy. (For instance, I often go riding on my bike with Suchitra Sen from Saptapadi… I keep playfully exchanging glances with Madhabi Mukherjee from Charulata… or I gaze at Audrey Hepburn and think, surely she’s about to give that million-dollar look from Roman Holiday…!!)

Four. What would you want written on your gravestone after your death? Envision this and keep trying to make it happen. Here’s mine: Here lies a person who truly lived before dying.

Five. Discover a technique to complete tasks that are your responsibility but you don’t enjoy doing—finish them in half the usual time. This way you’ll have time for the things you love to do.

Six. Write down 15 negative points about yourself. Next to each point, note how many days you want to be free from that trait. Occasionally look at that paper, and cross out the points you’ve overcome. Celebrate your small victories by doing something you enjoy.

Seven. Make a list of all the tasks you’re afraid to do but should do. Make the list comprehensive. However tedious it feels, start doing one task per day, and after a few weeks, see how far you’ve progressed.

Eight. It’s crucial to know what we truly love to do. Once you know this, and if you can give it your sincerity and tremendous effort, there’s no reason to fall behind. Our biggest problem is that we don’t even know what we truly enjoy.

Nine. Before starting work on any subject, take sufficient time to think about how you’ll do it, how much you’ll do, and why you’ll do it. The ability to think patiently can take a person very far. Trust your intuition.

Ten. Don’t blindly follow anything. Instead of falling into someone else’s predetermined pattern, create your own. Customize any advice to suit your needs.

Eleven. When you’re very angry, bow your head and look at the ground while counting backward from 100 to 1, or stare fixedly at a corner of the wall or ceiling while thinking 10 good thoughts about yourself. This will reduce your anger.

Twelve. Don’t criticize great people, and don’t listen to criticism of them. Doing so increases arrogance. Believe from your heart that you have no right to speak ill of someone who isn’t at your level.

Thirteen. In all areas of life, avoid the overly scholarly and excessively intelligent. They will typically either harm you for their own benefit or shatter your self-confidence.

Fourteen. Save time from watching TV and instead pray, read books, listen to music, or watch a good movie.

Fifteen. Use the kaizen method to surpass yourself. Kaizen means continuously moving toward a better state, bit by bit. Progress slowly and steadily, little by little, but never stop.

Sixteen. Every day, stare at a clock’s hands with undivided attention for 2 minutes. Don’t let any other thoughts enter your mind during this time. Do this for 21 consecutive days. This will enhance your thinking capacity.

Seventeen. Every day, write in a notebook with the date, noting in which areas you progressed compared to the previous day. Don’t reduce today’s work to finish yesterday’s incomplete tasks—instead, increase your working hours.
Eighteen. Every day, you can sing your favorite song at the top of your voice, or recite your favorite poem. Whatever others may say, celebrate your own desires. You sing for yourself. If what brings you joy can be done without harming anyone, don’t let anyone speak badly of it, and don’t care about anyone’s negative comments.

Nineteen. Most of the time, fatigue is an illusion. When you don’t want to do something at that moment, your brain repeatedly sends signals: you’re tired! you’re tired! When fatigue comes while studying, you don’t want to study, but if a friend invites you out at that time, fatigue doesn’t interfere. When fatigue hits during boring work, use that time properly by doing something pleasant with double the energy.

Twenty. You can follow a technique to increase focus. Keep looking at small things in your room that you’ve never noticed before. Think about them. Consider which of these items can be moved away from the room right now, and actually move them away! Free yourself from what you don’t need. Often, one unnecessary thing diverts our attention from a thousand necessary things.

Twenty-one. Never tell someone you can’t help with a particular task that they can’t do that work. Never give someone who can’t help you with a task the opportunity to tell you that you can’t do that work.

Twenty-two. Those who think, “I’m from National University, what can I possibly achieve,” are actually creating pathways to deceive themselves. Such thinking breeds a tendency to excuse oneself and develops a mentality of not accepting challenges. Through daily practice of this belief, you keep weakening yourself, and the quality of work and enthusiasm for work keeps declining. Spend less time with people whose company reinforces these thoughts and beliefs.
If you want to do something in life, and if you’re given the opportunity to try doing it, you’re surely worthy of it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to do it in the first place.

Twenty-three. Whatever work you desperately need to do, do it for at least 4 hours daily for 21 consecutive days, whether you enjoy the work or not.

Twenty-four. Don’t keep doing the work that you know you must stop doing. Focus your mind on something else during that time.

Twenty-five. When you feel like eating something, eat it. Don’t save your most beautiful outfit for a special day—today is that special day. If you feel like traveling somewhere, go as soon as you get the chance. Don’t save excessive money. The day you’re saving all that money for might never come in your life. If you feel like dancing, dance a little. This is life!

Twenty-six. If the cooking is good, call the cook and praise their cooking. Practice speaking cheerfully with those who are junior to you in position or status. Give generous thanks to those who serve you from time to time. Tell your loved one, the person you love, while they’re still alive—give them a bunch of gladioli and say, “I love you!” Otherwise, you’ll have to place those flowers in a corner of their grave after their death. What’s the point? Dead people can no longer smell the beautiful fragrance of flowers! The great inconvenience of being dead is that the dead are deprived of all the world’s beauty.

Twenty-seven. Whenever you get the chance, mingle with children exactly as they do—play with them, tell them stories. Give them various gifts. Become their favorite person. This will give you wonderfully pure joy.

Live, and let live!!