Read the explanations on the The School of Life blog but I highlight just two that are close to my heart:
- “Diet, but not to lose weight.
- Work to live, don’t live to work.
- Meet a friend face to face, when you might have chatted online. Aristotle is our advisor on this matter. He argued that good friendship – soulmateship – is only possible when friends ‘share salt together’. He meant that they sit down with each other, not just over the occasional meal, but frequently and often. Then, you see each other body and soul. Texting and websites are part of modern friendship, but alone, they are not enough.
- Start each day by contemplating the worst that can happen.
- Take a technology Sabbath.
- Talk to a stranger. There is a source of knowledge and insight all around us, and yet we barely notice it’s there. It’s not Google. It’s the strangers with whom share our world. Socrates realized this, and so started to ask people questions as he walked the streets of Athens – what is friendship, what is happiness, what is love? It was an extraordinary thing to do, and led to nothing less than the invention of philosophy.
- Go on retreat.
- Write a blog for one week.
- Do something that will surprise your friends, and you.
- Decide what you want at your funeral.”
