Tactics For Nice Days
I've found it helpful to have a recipe for what makes my days go well.
Currently, that looks like:
- Daily Bread. This is mostly to ensure I don't eat unhealthy food or too much. Fasting is also good. Recently I've been making "Alfredo Bread", which is a milk bread with a fair amount of garlic powder and a bit of parmesan cheese in there. It's delightful.
- Sleep 9:30pm-6am. I don't usually need this much sleep but it's good to block out a consistent time for it.
- Flashcards. Currently, I'm memorizing The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, and studying Mandarin Chinese. It can take a lot of calibration to avoid feeling like you're in a cycle -- I recommending using Anki and bumping up the Minimum Interval setting.
- Focus on Art over Entertainment. Try to stage the emotional self. Think and feel. Find the things you'll be glad you found.
- An Anonymous Practice related to a religious impression I had in March. Somewhat embarassingly, I've not gotten this to where I want it to be, but I do feel better the days I work on it, even if it remains out of my reach for a bit longer.
- Read. Fiction, non-fiction, weird stuff. Whatever is interesting. I can't really explain this but it does seem very likely to make my days better.
- Write. Most of this website is actually in drafts that will likely never see the light of day, or in a list of ideas I'll probably never get to. But it's good to write, if you can't find a nice person to talk to. Writing is a delightful way to find friends.
I don't do these every day. If you have a similar list, I recommend (weirdly enough) not tracking how often you follow it. There's no need to brag or be embarrassed over the past, and no reason to worry over tomorrow.