Introduction
All such advice found below can be used by an individual for self-help, self-improvement, or for therapeutic purposes. Some of the healthy living recommendations are purely self-help, e.g., sleeping. However, most of the advice given below is clearly not just about you, fulfilling your desires, being successful in your business, making you happy, finding a hobby to relieve your stress, managing your time, or solving your personal problems.
The wise outlooks and suggestions cited below rightly emphasize the needs and desires of other persons and right living in our social environments, healthy interpersonal relationships, responsibilities and obligations, Ideals, virtues, realism, creativity, traditional wisdom views, reflection, The Big Pictures, flourishing, service, guarded optimism, leadership, effort, humility, growing, dedication, respect for our planet Mother Earth, spirituality, constraints and limitations, thinking, inner life, courage, learning, hope, integration, etc.
This webpage emphasizes humanistic, philosophical, non-religious, non-authoritarian, pragmatic, progressive, rational, scientific and secular viewpoints on how to live a good life. All non-religious persons can develop praiseworthy, viable, constructive, tolerant, open-minded, practical, serious, and valuable ethical and moral principles; and live a good life.
Characteristics of Healthy People
"So far as motivational status is concerned, healthy people have sufficiently gratified their basic needs for safety, belongingness, love, respect and self-esteem so that they are motivated primarily by trends to self-actualization (defined as ongoing actualization of potentials, capacitates and talents, as fulfillment of mission (or call, fate, destiny, or vocation), as a fuller knowledge of, and acceptance of, the person's own intrinsic nature, as an unceasing trend toward unity, integration or synergy within the person. .. These healthy people are there defined by describing their clinically observed characteristics. These are:
1. Superior perception of reality.
2. Increased acceptance of self, of others and of nature.
3. Increased spontaneity.
4. Increase in problem-centering.
5. Increased detachment and desire for privacy.
6. Increased autonomy, and resistance to enculturation.
7. Greater freshness of appreciation, and richness of emotional reaction.
8. Higher frequency of peak experiences.
9. Increased identification with the human species.
10. Changed and improved interpersonal relations.
11. More democratic character structure.
12. Greatly increased creativeness.
13. Certain changes in the value system."
- Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being, 1962.
Happiness Activities
1. Expressing Gratitude
2. Cultivating Optimism
3. Avoiding Over-Thinking and Social Comparisons
4. Practicing Acts of Kindness
5. Nurturing Social Relationships
6. Developing Strategies for Coping
7. Learning to Forgive
8. Increasing Flow Expectations
9. Savoring Life's Joys
10. Committing to Your Goals
11. Practicing Spirituality
12. Taking Care of Your Body (Meditation)
13. Taking Care of Your Body (Physical Activity)
14. Taking Care of Your Body (Acting Like a Happy Person)
15. The Five Hows Behind Sustainable Happiness: Positive Emotions,
Optimal Timing and Variety, Social Support, Motivation, Effort,
Commitment, and Habit.
- Sonja Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want
Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality
"1. Moving with Attention, Wake Up to Life, Mindful Movements
2. The Learning Switch, Bring in the New, Lifelong learning, Retraining
3. Subtlety, Experience the Power of Gentleness
4. Variation, Enjoy Abundant Possibilities
5. Taking Your Time, Slowing Down, Not Rushing, Luxuriate in the Richness of Feeling
6. Enthusiasm, Turn the Small into the Great
7. Flexible Goals, Make the Impossible Possible
8. Imagination and Dreams, Create Your Life
9. Awareness, Cultivating Mindfulness, Thrive with True Knowledge"
- Anat Baniel, Move into Life: The Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality
The Six Principles of Enlightened Living
The Six Perfections (Paramitas) in Mahayana Buddhism:
"1. Generosity: charity, kind-hearted giving, altruism, unattached generosity, boundless
openness, unconditional love (Dana) .
2. Virtue: ethics, morality, self-discipline, not harming, proper conduct, impeccability (Sila).
3. Patience: tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance (Kshanti).
4. Energy: diligence, courage, enthusiasm, vigor, effort (Virya).
5. Meditation: absorption, concentration, presence of mind, contemplation (Dhyana).
6. Wisdom: transcendental wisdom, mystical insight, enlightenment (Prajna)."
- Six Perfections and Paramitas: Buddhist Perfections (c 50 CE)
Creating Optimism
"1. Connect to Others, socialize, maintain friendships.
2. Maintain Autonomy: a feeling of independence and a sense of being in control.
3. Self-Esteem: a function of how you perceive others view you.
4. Competence: relates to how effective you feel you are.
5. Purpose: fulfillment and meaning throughout your life.
6. Connection to Your Body: vital to our complete sense of self…
Exercise, mind/body arts, pampering, wholesome food, rest, relaxation.
7. Connection to Nature: its permanence, its beauty and power.
8. Spirituality: a powerful weapon against depression."
- Bob Murry and Alicia Fortinberry, Creating Optimism, 2004.
Twenty Rules for Optimal Living in the 21st Century
1. Face Reality
2. Take Action
3. Create Yourself
4. Accept Responsibility
5. Do It Now
6. You Can't Change the Past
7. Act Like a Scientist
8. Work, Work, Work and Practice, Practice, Practice
9. Push Yourself
10. Do and Feel
11. There's No Gain Without Pain
12. Accept and Forgive Yourself Unconditionally
13. Live for Now and for the Future
14. Commit Yourself
15. Take Risks
16. Be Interested in Yourself and in Others
17. Remain Flexible
18. Use It Or Lose It
19. Accept Uncertainty
20. Don't Expect Heaven on Earth