Living life

Try to feel good about yourself even when you feel like the least worthy of creatures. Reject all those negative thoughts; surrender yourself to dance or to silence or to ordinary, everyday activities - like taking your son to school, preparing supper, making sure the house is tidy. Everything is worship if your mind is focused on the present moment.

Don't try to convince anyone of anything. When you don't know something, ask or go away and find out. But when you do act, be like the silent, flowing river and open yourself to a greater energy. Believe. Simply believe that you can.

Be clear.

Reprogram yourself every minute of each day with thoughts that make you grow. When you're feeling irritated or confused, try to laugh at yourself. Laugh out loud at this woman tormented by doubts and anxieties, convinced that her problems are the most important thing in the world. Laugh at the sheer absurdity of the situation.

Concentrate.

If you can find nothing to focus your mind, concentrate on your breathing. Listen to your heart beating, follow the thoughts you can't control, control your desire to get up at once and to do something "useful." Sit for a few minutes each day doing nothing, getting as much as you can out of that time.

Pray and be thankful. Even in the simplest daily activity.

You are what you believe yourself to be.

Don't be like those people who believe in "positive thinking" and tell themselves that they're loved and strong and capable. You don't need to do that, because you know it already. And when you doubt it, instead of trying to prove that you're better than you think, just laugh. Laugh at you worries and insecurities. View your anxieties with humor. It will be difficult at first, but you'll gradually get used to it.

- from "The Witch of Portobello" by Paulo Coelho