"30 Things to Start Doing for Yourself" by Marc Chernoff is a glittery list of positive admonitions that DS Merle forwarded some months ago. It's hyper-optimistic and hard to argue with — but also frustratingly redundant. Minus the cheery explanations of each item, the list suggests:

• Start spending time with the right people.
• Start facing your problems head on.
• Start being honest with yourself about everything.
• Start making your own happiness a priority.
• Start being yourself, genuinely and proudly.
• Start noticing and living in the present.
• Start valuing the lessons your mistakes teach you.
• Start being more polite to yourself.
• Start enjoying the things you already have.
• Start creating your own happiness.
• Start giving your ideas and dreams a chance.
• Start believing that you're ready for the next step.
• Start entering new relationships for the right reasons.
• Start giving new people you meet a chance.
• Start competing against an earlier version of yourself.
• Start cheering for other people's victories.
• Start looking for the silver lining in tough situations.
• Start forgiving yourself and others.
• Start helping those around you.
• Start listening to your own inner voice.
• Start being attentive to your stress level and take short breaks.
• Start noticing the beauty of small moments.
• Start accepting things when they are less than perfect.
• Start working toward your goals every single day.
• Start being more open about how you feel.
• Start taking full accountability for your own life.
• Start actively nurturing your most important relationships.
• Start concentrating on the things you can control.
• Start focusing on the possibility of positive outcomes.
• Start noticing how wealthy you are right now

All quite splendid, of course. But wouldn't it be better to sort and arrange and structure them into fewer, more orthogonal and independent dimensions? What are the key virtues to really strive for in life? Perhaps they include:

• honesty — seeing things as they are
• optimism — cultivating a positive mental attitude
• kindness — acting with love both toward others and oneself
• openness — allowing for possibilities to grow and emerge
• connection — building relationships
• growth — pushing toward a better, greater future state
• nonattachment — releasing and forgiving
• observing — noticing reality and analyzing it
• thankfulness — appreciating and cherishing one's blessings

And can these be further compressed, unified, or otherwise structured as aspects of The Good? Hmmmm ...

(cf. My Religion (2000-11-06), The Meaning of Life (2008-07-24), Core Buddhism (2011-11-17), ...) - ^z - 2013-10-01