How to Enjoy Life

1. Be quiet
2. Pay attention
3. Don't rush past anything
4. Get rid of your expectations
5. Value simplicity and ordinary life
6. Don't talk over people
7. Don't aspire to be rich
8. Reflect upon any repressed emotions
9. Allow yourself to feel them in a safe environment
10. Keep an open space in your heart and mind, so that the world continually feels new

How to Build Something Amazing Without Even Trying

1. Close your eyes
2. Put out your hands
3. Think of something majestic, like a castle
4. Begin to shape it with your hands
5. Put your heart into it and remain patient
6. Build the whole environment around the castle: the sky and the stars, the flowing water, etc
7. Imagine something you truly love as a fire deep within the castle, giving warmth and light
8. Step in and have a look around; allow yourself to feel comfortable
9. Invite over some friends, or
10. Venture out, knowing you have a safe place to return to

How to Make Amends with Everyone in Your Life

1. Take a deep breath
2. Realize that this isn't going to be very exact
3. Focus on one person at a time
4. Consider your relationship with them and why things went sour
5. Don't play "the blame game!" Think about things calmly and rationally
6. It's okay if either party made mistakes, that's only human
7. Recognize theirs, sure, but focus on yours. What have you learned since then?
8. If the answer is nothing, then spend some time in reflection
9. Focus on how you've grown as a person. Forgive yourself for past mistakes
10. Realize everyone is on this journey. Try to provide comfort

How to Believe in Anything and for It to Be All Right

1. Begin by focusing on your potential
2. Create a space or "buffer zone" between yourself and the belief you're expected to entertain
3. Extend a thin line of thought over the buffer zone to make contact with the idea
4. Pretend as if you have feelers or antennae; investigate the belief to see if it seems sour
5. Maintain a buffer zone around yourself on all sides, like a donut
6. This will help you feel safe when you come into contact with foreign ideas and strong opinions
7. If the item seems sweeter than it is sour, bring it in a little closer to examine it more fully
8. Stay calm, don't allow anything to erupt
9. Radiate your own pulse outward and watch how it interacts with the new belief
10. Bring things closer if they harmonize; if not, keep them at a distance

How to Catch and Tame a Bird

1. Recognize that, by their nature, birds react impulsively to their environment
2. Crouch near an alluring spot with a net or some other fabric
3. Allow the birds to come
4. Observe the birds and restrain yourself from using your net. This is very important
5. Allow the birds to leave. Pack away your net in whatever way seems fit 
6. Sit patiently near the area in a meditative posture 
7. Allow the birds to feed, and to come and go naturally
8. Absorb yourself in that moment, so that there are no peripheral thoughts
9. Carefully examine what the essence of the encounter can teach you, and how it could remain with you
10. Walk away when you feel at peace

How to Climb a Mountain

1. Prepare yourself for a long and difficult journey
2. Expect that weariness will come, along with exhilaration
3. Put one foot after the other
4. Allow the mind to work through your various concerns
5. But do this in a way that allows you to release them
6. Focus on your movement
7. Don't put too much pressure on yourself
8. Beware of false summits
9. Recognize others who are on the same journey
10. Repeat if things begin to feel too flat

How to Find Ghosts and How to Deal With Them

1. Begin by looking for the parts of people that are invisible
2. Come prepared with a microphone and a recorder, so that you can ask questions
3. But recognize that it is usually difficult to come into contact with these hidden things
4. Act cheerful and do a lot of listening
5. When the ghost flashes during the conversation, don't call the person out!
6. Hold your breath as if you were taking a picture, and continue to speak gently
7. Allow the encounter to work itself into your memory
8. Remember, it's often very difficult for people to deal with painful things
9. That's why they try to make them disappear
10. It's not very polite to try to point them out, even if you think it's in the person's best interest
11. Recognize that this will continue indefinitely throughout your life
12. Develop some sort of magic to alter the encounter so that it is neither frightening nor oppressing in any way
13. Be gentle, look inwards, and decide for yourself why it's important to accept imperfection
14. Talk about things with the people you love
15. Don't focus on scary things
16. Pay attention to what's living, and where there are possibilities

Why Writing Poetry Makes Sense and Why It Doesn't

1. In the process of writing a good poem, the poet comes into contact with the unknown
2. This involves a degree of risk and tests the poet's abilities
3. The poet is forced to fend for himself or herself against the inconsistencies of both the world and his own consciousness
4. This contact prevents the development of comfort zones
5. In this way, unresolved emotions and concepts are prevented from scabbing over
6. Rather, they are drawn out and used for growth
7. The poet begins to dance with his own shadow
8. He may then become more willing to dance with the shadows of others, which is a boon to the community
9. Embarking away from isolation encourages the poet's writing to become more fruitful for a broader audience
10. Everyone benefits

Why Poetry Doesn't Make Sense

1. Nobody cares
2. You never know what you're going to get
3. Good poetry creates more questions than answers
4. Few people have enough time to think as it is
5. You actually need to make time to read or write it
6. It's hard to talk about
7. It's often ugly
8. It's too sensitive
9. It creates an unnecessary weight
10. It often asks the reader to let go of something that helps them feel secure

What We Should Do About This

1. Nothing. Go about our daily lives as we have been
2. Or, begin reading and writing poems with a sense of humor
3. And, begin approaching our existential and emotional issues with a sense of humor
4. Give ourselves and everyone else a break
5. Recognize that learning about ourselves is a lifelong process
6. Recognize the importance of sharing stories and wisdom
7. Use poetry to cultivate a relationship with the unknown
8. Embrace the new possibilities in each day
9. Live more from the heart and less from the mind
10. Be more thankful; and happier

How to Cure an Indescribable Longing

1. Do not attempt to describe the longing, as it is by its nature indescribable
2. Allow it to overtake you and then drain from you, like an electric charge
3. Step back, take deep breaths
4. If thoughts about all the things you have to do begin to arise, suspend them in midair, and allow them to evaporate
5. Allow the indescribable longing to return, slowly if possible
6. Consider how it relates to your past and what you want to accomplish
7. Think about your other accomplishments. Perhaps you've satisfied this longing in the past, and are totally forgetting about it
8. Consider whether your indescribable longing is an artistic longing
9. If you believe it is, begin to accept the fact that it will never be satisfied
10. Rather than "completion," invest more stock in terms like discipline, exploration, tension, and development
11. Put aside all notions of audience appeal. Recognize that your indescribable longing may only lead to the creation of monstrosities.
12. It's important that these monstrosities are made
13. Some days you may be able to write from your gut, and with composure. Be sure to register this feeling, but know there is no sure way to establish this balance
14. Don't be too hard on yourself if you're putting in the time and the effort
15. If something feels boring or contrived, come at it from another angle
16. Repeat this process until things become spherical

I want a blue heaven
to sit in my lap like an orb
to be caught in my grip
to swing in my hip-bag

I want to command a light snow
so that the anxieties of the world
become mesmerized
and momentarily forgotten

I want the cleanest line of hope,
drawn up from the ground
like ice cold water, and kept
resting in a bowl

I want a magnitude of life
to be unearthed from the core
to be draped over every fence-top
to be brushed by fingers walking by