Ways to Improve Your Life
The cover story for this week's U. S. News and World Report is "50 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2007." Some good stuff there. Here are some of my additions:
. Visit a friend who moved away.
. See an ocean.
. Recycle. If you're new at it, start with newspapers, cereal boxes, and cardboard paper-towel rolls. Remind yourself that having dominion over the earth means taking good care of precious resources. If you have used cell phones accumulating in your junk drawer, check out how to donate them to charity.
. Plant something. Anything. Marvel in the mystery that a seed underground can turn into something big and beautiful. The apostle Paul said our resurrection bodies will be like that. We bury this weak, vulnerable earthly home and it comes back in a blaze of glory.
. Join a Bible study. Get with a friend if you don't have a group, and use a guide. Even if you don't believe the Bible, it's the best-selling book on the planet, and many of our greatest authors use it as a literary reference. I just re-read the David and Goliath story and then heard a Democratic senator refer to himself as "David against Goliath" on CNN.
. If you're married, read a book on improving your communication. Gottman has good stuff.
. If you have kids, read a book on positive parenting. The love-and-logic folks would be my choice here.
. Support a child in a developing country. Write regularly.
. Read aloud to your spouse or a child or a friend.
. Choose one book from the best-seller list and read it.
. Choose one classic and read it, too.
. Treat yourself to a facial, a pedicure, or a massage.
. Take a class. Want to learn to SCUBA dive? Weave baskets? Do calligraphy? Do it!
. Cook a complex recipe you've always wanted to try but never taken the time.
. Write a letter to a public official saying something nice.
. Clean your closets and donate last year's (decade's?) fashions to a homeless shelter.
. Start shopping at a Farmer's Market. Give the local guys a chance.
. Switch from a bank to a credit union. It'll help redistribute power closer to home.
. Donate to a library some books you aren't using.
. Give old eyeglasses to a Kiwanis club that will redistribute them to the needy.
. Cut back on bottled water in disposable containers. The water is healthier; the plastic's bad for the earth.
. Befriend someone who thinks totally differently from you. Ask lots of questions. Try to understand. Allow yourself to change your mind on something.
. Go to a half-price book store and buy a CD of music you don't normally listen to.
. Read a book (or listen on tape) on the history of something like the Ming Dynasty or the Taj Mahal--something about which you know little to nothing. If you can get a friend to do it with you, all the better.
. Tell someone aloud, "I forgive you."
. Spend an afternoon at a museum.
. Do something about Darfur.
. Park at the far end of the parking lot and walk.
. Take a meal to someone in need. Not a close friend--someone who will be truly surprised.
. Visit a shut-in. Depart with a hug or hand squeeze.
. Memorize a poem.
What would you add?