101 Ways to Discover Yourself

1. Try your hand at poetry. Express yourself creatively. Sky’s the limit. Submit your best ones.

2. Write a love letter to yourself. Then frame it where everyone can see it.

3. Go to a child’s playground just before sundown and swing on the swing set.

4. Closely study your finger/handprints and marvel.

5. Blast the car radio on to your favorite song and sing along loudly. Rinse and repeat.

6. Paint. Something. Anything. Who cares if you think you suck. You’re probably wrong to someone else.

7. Stop making assumptions. Imagine if you were in their situation.

8. Take a walk on the beach during sunset and focus on your senses. The feel of the wind against your skin. The smell of the ocean. The sound of the waves crashing. The color of the sky. Find a rhythm. Breathe in sync with it. An orchestra of your senses.

9. Listen to classical music in the dark right before you fall asleep. Each person derives their own story from each piece. What’s your story?

10. Indulge in your favorite treat and savor every bite.

11. Laugh hysterically for no reason at all. When you laugh you are in touch with your Being.

12. Walk around downtown aimlessly. On foot. Don’t go with a destination in mind. Be open to anything.

13. Go on a day-long car trip to somewhere you’ve never been before. Like a strawberry farm or an apple orchard in the country.

14. If the way you’re thinking and living is not working, doubt yourself.

15. Go an entire week without watching TV once. See where your imagination takes you.

16. Even more challenging: Go an entire week without signing on to the Internet once.

17. Play with your pet. If you don’t have a pet, visit one at a shelter. Or baby-sit your friend’s pet for a day.

18. Volunteer and speak up for a cause you *really* care about.

19. Create a vision board and post it up where everyone can see it. Change it up every couple of months. Because it’s okay for your vision to change.

20. Cook up a Thanksgiving feast with all your favorite foods. Invite your loved ones. Who says you have to wait for Thanksgiving?

21. Make presents for your loved ones. Don’t buy them. You never know what you might create.

22. Sign up for a course you’re interested in at your local community college.

23. Get away from civilization. Go camping for a long weekend. It’s good for your sanity.

24. Call in sick from time to time, even if you aren’t sick. Do nothing if you’d like but don’t ruin it by watching TV … be creative.

25. That quirky mom-and-pop restaurant you pass by everyday? Walk in and try their special. It will probably taste better than any chain restaurant you’ve been to.

26. Pick any random spot on a world map (use a dart if you have to) and make a plan to visit in a year. It’s amazing how your mind will find ways to make things work if you let it.

25. Take up dancing lessons. Even if you think you’ll suck. How will you ever get better if you don’t try? Who knows, you might have a really good rhythm.

26. Avoid eating out (restaurants and fast food) for a month.

27. Avoid eating meat for a month. Observe changes to your body and your energy level.

28. Eliminate as many processed foods as you can from your diet.

29. Try learning a language you never thought of before. Learning a new language can expose you to a different way of thinking.

30. Put away your iPod/MP3 player and be more aware of the sounds around you. Don’t take them for granted.

31. Invite someone you admire for lunch and pick their brain.

32. Make time to spend in nature everyday and find inspiration.

33. Conquer your fear of public speaking and boost your confidence. Attend a Toastmaster meeting and see if you like it.

34. Learn (or relearn) to play an instrument. Once you get the hang of it, it can be very peaceful.

35. Aggressively de-clutter your life and living space. Don’t think twice about throwing things out or selling them if you have no concrete use for them.

36. Learn self-defense or a martial art. Both can build self-discipline and confidence.

37. Start a personal blog or journal, if you haven’t already. There’s no pressure to perform well or stick to a topic and you can really sort your thoughts.

38. Experiment with different ways of meditation to find out what works best for you.

39. Practice breathing meditation anywhere at any time (especially when you feel crappy).

40. Sign off Facebook/Twitter/what-have-you social media outlet and make an effort to meet your friends in person. It’s easier to have more meaningful conversations that way.

41. Don’t be a slave to trends, fashion or otherwise. Follow your own heart and interests.

42. Tackle your finances. It’s not as scary as you think it is and financial independence is one of the keys to happiness.

43. Stop participating in self-hate by comparing yourself to other people. They’re them. You’re you. Love yourself for who you are. End of story.

44. Smile and wave at strangers, even the homeless guy on the street. Don’t be offended if some people don’t respond … they’re the ones who needed it the most.

45. Exercise more, even if it’s just walking vigorously. Remember: endorphins are your friends.

46. Don’t keep the phone on you 24/7 and impose limits. The world won’t collapse if you don’t answer every time. And your real friends won’t leave. Trust me.

47. Learn about different world religions. At their core, they are all the same. But you can expose yourself to different perspectives.

48. Quit bitching about politics. Speaking up is great, but not if you’re not actively doing anything to improve your life or the situation at hand.

49. Stop looking for perfection. You already have it in you. Decide what it is and just be it.

50. Take responsibility for anything that happens to you in your life. Note I didn’t say take blame. Responsibility and blame are two different things.

51. On a second note: avoid blaming anyone, including yourself, for anything.

52. Be a kid for a day. Jump on a trampoline or in a bounce house. Do some cartwheels. Watch old Disney movies. Get lost in a candy store.

53. Write and send a thank you letter to someone you look up to. Even if you don’t personally know them.

54. Send your long-distance friends a real letter or a care package via snail mail. Yes, people still love those.

55. Try to reach out and develop a close friendship with your parents and siblings. Even if they screwed up. Because when they’re gone, they’re gone.

56. Act silly even if it’s totally inappropriate. Everyone, even you, can use a good laugh in a tense situation.

57. If you feel like crying or shouting, let it go. It will release the tension and leave room for deeper introspection.

58. Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are. Surround yourself with people who are where you want to be and people who support you.

59. Stop obsessing over calories and dieting and focus on a quality diet. If you can’t pronounce the ingredients, it’s not quality. Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re not. Keep it simple, stupid.

60. Take anything the media says with a grain of salt. Just avoid it all together if you can.

61. Don’t have a stick up your ass. Laugh at your failings and the failings of civilization. Life’s a soap opera. Play along, but realize it’s just a soap opera.

62. Jump into mud puddles. Have a snowball fight. Don’t be afraid to get dirty every now and then.

63. Quit carrying around so much junk. You don’t need most of it. Learn to pack light.

64. Don’t rely on the government or anyone else, even a supreme being, to solve your problems. Only you can solve it. Once you understand that, you’ll learn that you’re capable of anything.

65. Understand that everyone has (or will have) a disability of some sort and every disability has its advantages. So don’t let it hold you down. Push yourself to the limit. If you don’t understand that, get to know someone with a disability.

66. Ditch caffeine and other stimulants. Don’t fight your natural sleep cycle too hard. It doesn’t work and it screws with your ability to be alive.

67. Just do it. And stop getting in your way.

68. Spend your money on experiences, not things. You might as well. The money and the stuff will not be coming with you when you die. But your experiences, they will die with you and live in the memories of others.

69. Learn to live below your means. That budget you have? Cut it down by 20%. You’d be surprised how well you can get by without crap you didn’t really need in the first place.

70. What would Socrates say? Try to see all sides of every story. Are you pro-life? Try being pro-choice for a day. Are you pro-choice? Try being pro-life for a day.

71. Don’t let statistics dictate how you live. Statistics lie. Your mind is more powerful than a bunch of numbers.

72. What’s your biggest dream? No matter how crazy it sounds, believe in it with every fiber of your being. Whether it takes 2 weeks or a year. And don’t forget to do something tangible every day, no matter how small, to achieve it.

73. Winners know when to quit. If you truly aren’t feeling something anymore, you’ve got to let it go eventually. What’s life if you aren’t enjoying it most of the time?

74. Just remember it ain’t always about you. Give back whenever and wherever you can without expecting something in return.

75. Become a better communicator and listener. You’ll understand that at their core, everyone wants the same thing you do.

76. Love hard or don’t love at all. Everyone loses when you half-ass it with expectations and mistrust.

77. The health care industry isn’t the problem. You are. Be an active participant in improving yourself mentally and physically. Save up for medical emergencies. Do something every day to better your health. You’ll be much sharper.

78. Read everything you can get your hands on. And don’t get stale by reading only topics and stories you’re used to reading about.

79. Have a pen pal from another country. Or a friend who lived most of their lives outside the U.S. You can really learn a lot from them.

80. Don’t be a slave to time. Remove the clocks in your house. Stop rushing and worrying.

81. Write up a life list. You might see a pattern and discover what you’re really passionate about.

82. Remember that education and knowledge are two different things. There are a lot of stupid educated people and smart uneducated people. Never stop learning and never let education interfere with your ability to learn.

83. If you’re really not okay, don’t pretend to be. Everyone has crappy days every now and then. Just don’t let them consume your life.

84. Appreciate the little things. Savor the little steps. Without them, you wouldn’t be who you are right now.

85. Change is inevitable, so learn how to adjust easily. You are a dynamic person, so don’t expect otherwise.

86. Detach yourself from the world every now and then. Don’t talk to a living soul for a few days. We’re social creatures, but solitude can be a good healer. Just don’t get stuck in that state.

87. Boredom is a state of mind and a habit, not a result of your external circumstances. Constantly trying to defeat boredom externally can be destructive. Stop saying you’re bored and find out what truly interests you.

88. If you don’t see yourself as black and white, how can you expect the rest of the world to be? You are a part of the world and it is a part of you. Open your heart to it.

89. Don’t be too quick to say no to new experiences. Usually you have nothing to lose and everything to gain (even if you lose).

90. Love is all around you; in fact, it’s already in you. If you don’t see it, you’re just not in the right place spiritually.

91. If you make a mistake, recover fast and learn from it. Laugh at yourself if you have to. Because that’s what you’ll be doing five years from now anyway.

92. Unhappy with your relationship? Don’t give up easily. See it as a test. Try different ways of working through it. Even if it falls apart anyway, you’ll still learn a lot about yourself.

93. Anything you fear, you must eventually face. Why not face it now when it’s in your control?

94. Don’t be intimidated by age: you’re as old as you feel. Never say “I’m too old to _________.” Because then, you probably are. There are plenty of old people out there who can prove it to you.

95. Seek quality over quantity. Don’t buy into the notion that life is a popularity contest. People who live like that aren’t truly living.

96. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or ask for help. If you don’t ask, you’ll remain right where you are. You’ve got to start somewhere and you won’t start out as an expert.

97. Be slapstick. Fly by the seat of your pants. The rest of the world might think you’ve got a serious case of ADD but at least you’ll be getting more done than 99% of them.

98. Want a taste of humility? Visit or volunteer in a third world country with your eyes wide open. You’ll realize just how privileged your life has been. You’ll realize how much choice you have no matter how corrupt you think the government and media are, no matter how much tax you pay, no matter how poor your family was, etc.

99. Stop nagging and whining. You’ll piss a lot of people off. State what you want or you’ll never get it.

100. Create your own traditions and holidays. It will bring a lot of meaning to your life. You don’t just have to follow the ones on the calendar.

101. Choose your own path and live it voraciously. If you don’t choose, someone else will choose it for you and there’s no way in hell you’ll be eager about it.

Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments!

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