Rules For Living

(Disclaimer: These are my personal rules. Use them if they fit you. Change them if they don't.)

Live Beautifully

* Enjoy the weather. Soak up the sun; stand in the rain, even if it's just for a few seconds; feel the wind in your hair. As my grandfather sometimes says, "nice we're having weather, isn't it?"

* Make somebody smile, every day. Then make someone laugh.

* Start each morning with a song that you love. Sing along while you're making your coffee.

* Love your body. Look at Botticelli. Look at "The Birth of Venus." Nearly everyone agrees that the woman in this picture is beautiful, and she couldn't fit into those size 2 jeans either.

* Whenever you see a lemonade stand, buy a glass. You don't have to drink it. You can walk around the corner and dump it out if you want to. But you'll have made some poor seven-year-old's day.

* Don't charge it if you know you can't pay it off. This will only lead to unhappiness.

* Look at art. You don't have to like all of it, or even most of it, but look at it. Figure out what you do like, and look even more.

* Make time for the occasional girls' night, especially if you're all in relationships.

* Tip well. See the woman having a hissy fit in the restaurant? The man cursing at the taxi driver as he slams the door? Be glad you're not doing this job right now, and make sure you're the good customer.

* Think of the things that made you happiest as a child; a favourite book or movie, your prized Care Bear, a beautiful seashell. Hunt them down and keep them in a place where they can remind you of that happiness.