How to live a better life???

Before answering your question, allow me to hypnotize and take you to a happy place. You are sitting naked, alone, in a vast, green field. There are soft white clouds in the sky and no sun. In the distance beyond the field, you can see a dense green forest. A cool breeze is caressing your face and body and gently ruffling your hair. There is no sound, except that of your own breathing, rhythmic, deep and peaceful. There’ a single delicate, yellow flower in your lap. Its faint fragrance mixes with the scent of the fresh grass all around.  There’s nowhere else to be. No more races to run. No tasks to complete. No boxes to tick. Here, now, is life, and life is happy.
Now, can you spare five seconds? Close your eyes please and imagine the above scene.
Really, please do.
Okay, snap snap, hello again!
That was an image (albeit exaggerated) of simplicity. The essence of simplicity is peace. Is peace something that you would like in your life? If yes, I bow low and present my humble opinions.

Lifestyle
1. Be minimalistic. Give up on things. Possess less. Wear old jeans.
2. Get off social media. You can do without continuous pings about how perfect others’ fake lives are going. I am in the middle of a Whatsapp fast and you won’t believe how peaceful it feels.
3. Don’t take religion too seriously.
4. Don’t make sex a (very) big deal. I am not very unequivocal regarding this, but here in India, the
lack of Boohoo in young adults’ lives certainly seems to cause many psychological imbalances.

Rules
5. Make this a rule: work hard regardless of how others are working.
6. Be honest. This way, you don’t have to remember the hundred different lies you told to different
people. Don’t involve in corruption.

Habits
7. Do NOT smoke.
8. Try not to borrow.
9. Make planned task lists. Chaos reduced = simplicity increased.
10. If it needs to be done now, do it now. A stitch in time saves nine.
11. Meditate for ten minutes every day. Give your brain a break.
12. Write a journal. It clears the mind.
13. Listen to Momma: keep things in their proper places. It saves time and irritation.
14. When you lend someone something, write it down.
15. Take time to understand things at a fundamental level. In the long run, it is easier than doing clumsy patchwork on bad knowledge.
16. Complete things, don’t leave them hanging mid-way.

People
17. Be nice with people. Be honest and straightforward, but in a nice and positive way.
18. It’s nice to know that there’s a group of people who’ll always have your back, no matter what. Be a close knit family.
19. Don’t think too much about what people think of you.
20. Don’t cheat on your spouse.
21. Get over your ex. If it didn't work out, it didn't work out. First love is over-rated, trust me.
22. Don’t force your opinions upon anyone. Respect people’s right to choose.

The Big Picture
23. Define what you want, whether it’s fame, gratitude, knowledge, love or respect. If you want money, define how much you want. Life becomes simpler when you stop chasing all the cars.
24. Don’t fret over the purpose of life. There is no goddamn purpose. Try #35 instead.
25. Don’t live for revenges and grudges.
26. Life becomes complicated and unpredictable when you are only responding to events. Get into ‘active’ mode. Gain control of what’s happening; change the rules if need be.

Self-Worth
27. Learn to apologize. There’s no shame in it.
28. Read the manual. Ask for directions. Forget the ego.
29. Don’t use fairness creams to get fairer, steroids to get fitter or silicone to get bustier.
30. Oh, and while we are at the topic, don’t buy beauty/fitness magazines and don’t read too many self-help books either.
31. Don’t kill yourself or others over small (or big) mistakes. Six Sigma sounds great but it’s not for
humans. To be human it to err.

Happiness
32. Laugh as much as you can.
33. Smile at random strangers. It’s amazing how many doors it opens up.
34. Don’t worry, take action. Don’t be guilty, make things better.
35. Live in this moment. Life is simpler when you have just one moment to live instead of 71 years.

All of these things, while they have other benefits too, will make your life SIMPLE. That is, lesser things to worry about. More time to spend with family, travel and create things. More time to stand and stare.
Love.