Tuesday, May 22, 2007, 1:13 pm

How not to mess it up...

Today's must-read: Ten simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life. I'm not sure I agree with the one about life and career going "as planned," but I do think it is important to keep an open mind and allow your plans to adapt to the changing world. Just throwing the plan away and focusing on reality isn't keeping your eye on the prize. How do you achieve your goals if you throw them out?

  1. Let go of worrying. It often makes things worse. The more you think about something bad, the more likely it is to happen. When you’re hair-trigger primed to notice the first sign of trouble, you’ll surely find something close enough to convince yourself it’s come.

  2. Give up on feeling guilty. Guilt changes nothing. It may make you feel you’re accepting responsibility, but it can’t produce anything new in your life. If you feel guilty about something you’ve done, either do something to put it right or accept you screwed up and try not to do so again. Then let it go. If you’re feeling guilty about what someone else did, see a psychiatrist. That’s insane.

  3. Stop taking so much notice of how you feel. How you feel is how you feel. It’ll pass soon. What you’re thinking is what you’re thinking. It’ll go too. Tell yourself that whatever you feel, you feel; whatever you think, you think. Since you can’t stop yourself thinking, or prevent emotions from arising in your mind, it makes no sense to be proud or ashamed of either. You didn’t cause them. Only your actions are directly under your control. They’re the only proper cause of pleasure or shame.
What i'm listening to:
Have a Nice Day 7Twenty7
Roxette
Have a Nice Day