My 12 Daily Disciplines

I was encouraged by the positive response I received to my "Diet & Fitness" tips. This list is my 12 daily disciplines, which overlaps a little with my diet rules. Every morning I wake up and say to myself, "I will try to follow my disciplines." I do break my rules regularly but then I try to do better the next day.

1. No sugar or artificial sweeteners.
2. No alcohol.
3. No sodas.
4. Don't eat junk.
5. Minimize innocuous but time-consuming habits.
6. Don't talk too much.
7. No WWII history (I'm obsessed with it).
8. Minimal social media (twice a day at most).
9. No retail therapy.
10. Stay focused.
11. Be productive and efficient, even when feeling down.
12. Don't get mad — nothing in life is worth it.

Now, for a few notes:

5. Minimize innocuous but time-consuming habits. Hey, we're not doing hard drugs or anything harmful, but it's easy to get lost in wasteful, time-eating endeavors, like watching TV. Now, if it relaxes you, a little TV is okay, but it shouldn't affect the balance of your life.

6. Don't talk too much. I'm an extremely transparent person, but when I put myself out and am vulnerable, two things happen. The good thing is that others become open too, and you establish a deep connection and get insights. The bad thing is that other people can throw negative energy darts at you and leave you feeling like crap. I'm thinking it might just be better to bear my inner soul with complete strangers. Haha.

7. No WWII history. When I was 12 years old my Granny gave me an a book titled, "A Photographic History of WWII." I'm looking at it and thinking, "Holy cow, what's going on here?" Ever since, I've enjoyed reading books and watching movies about the world's biggest war. I've gained a lot of insight, but, hey, enough is enough. If I watch one more YouTube documentary on WWII my brain will melt.

11. Be productive and efficient, even when feeling down. First, spending time with family and friends is ALWAYS time well spent. Second, most of us have days when we just want to stay in bed. On those days, I try to make myself keep going.

12. Don't get mad — nothing in life is worth it. We put a lot of wear on our bodies by raising our blood pressure and getting angry. Most anger issues fall into two categories: a) Physics, b) Social. Physics are things that fall, or us tripping, or something related to gravity or another physics law. When these things happen I try to analyze why it happened and then figure out a way to avoid the problem again. For instance, every morning when I open up a tray of cat food, it goes flying everywhere. Hmmm, what can I do to prevent this? I now hold it firm and slowly peel off the top. Hurray! The other common thing that makes us angry is social incidents. When someone upsets me I usually say, "That's just human behavior. We are simply animals and have various learned behaviors. How can I prevent this in the future?" I'm at the sunset of my life, I acknowledge that life is a Darwinian struggle, and, simply put, I feel that people and their actions usually aren't worth getting mad about. People are people.

Well, enough for now, folks!