1. Allow yourself to be thoroughly, extraordinarily, radically bored.
Resist the regular hustle of daily life.
Who knows what you might learn.
2. Play with children; dream with the elderly.
3. Write a poem; learn a new craft or art form; resist the temptation to compare your work with others, especially with stuff in stores and galleries.
4. Go dumpster diving or second-hand shopping; see old as new. Better yet, reverse the exercise: bring items back to the thrift store.
5. Clean up after others the next time you use a public bathroom. Taste the humility in the process. Brag about this to friends; just kidding, monitor your self-righteousness.
6. Talk differently. Maybe slow down your phraseology. Or insert the words "like" and "totally" several times in a sentence; pay attention to how that makes you feel.
7. Study history.
8. Forgo the trip to a less-industrialized country. Meet new immigrants from that region; listen to their stories, assist as needed. Or, hang out with marginalized people in your community.
9. Pick up a book by an author with whom you strongly disagree and read it with interest.
10. Visit a church from a strange denomination. Better yet, visit a new faith (or no-faith) group and embrace difference.
11. Shave your head. Wear the same clothes for four days straight. Or keep the store-tag on your shirt if you buy one new.
12. Watch your TV for 15 minutes with it turned off. Read only words written by women. Eat from another person's plate in a restaurant.
13. Put your fork down between every single bite and really eat.
14. The next time a telephone solicitor calls, veer from the script. Aim to humanize the encounter; ask him where his office is located;
ask her what the weather's like there.
15. When a clerk or sales rep hands you a coupon, hand it back and say, "Oh, I don't need that, I have too much money already."
(geez, summer 07)
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