1. Breathe more deeply during the day. Stop and take 3 deep breaths right now.

2. Eat more fresh veggies and fruit; look at your choices whether you are in the supermarket, fast food joint, or restaurant. Pick a salad over a burger; go to the farmers market for the local and in-season fresh produce. At a restaurant, ask what vegetables they have and order an extra portion. Eat the veggies first, take the other stuff home for left overs. Buy a juicer-invite your friends for juice. Try wheat grass juice.

3. Go to your Family Practice doctor once a year to check in on the latest.

4. Take a massage or reflexology class with your partner or a friend and practice on each other weekly.

5. Find some physical activity that you actually enjoy. You always wanted to learn how to sail, skate, box, dance or whatever; up your physical activity--take the stairs; park far away. SWEAT!

6. Do emotional cleaning--don’t let things fester; tell your coworker, friend, child what is on your mind. Don’t forget to tell the things you love and like about them and how special they are, not just what’s bugging you.

7. Practice good sleep hygiene--if you need to, take a 20 minute nap. If you nap longer than 20 minutes you secrete a sleep hormone that will make it harder to wake up. Or do a yoga pose like shavasana, corpse pose, lying down on your back or lie next to a wall with your feet elevated against the wall.

8. Express your creativity--write, take photographs, make a collage, cook--whatever tickles you and be an artist!

9. Volunteer, donate and recycle. Give your old stuff away--don’t keep things for “someday”. If you haven’t used it in 2 years, recycle or donate it. It doesn’t allow room for any thing new to come into your life.

10. Laugh more out loud!

November 12, 2001