The book Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... and It's All Small Stuff by Dr. Richard Carlson is a bestselling guide to living a more peaceful and centered life by not letting little things stress you out.
- Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
- Make Peace with Imperfection
- Let Go of the Idea that Gentle, Relaxed People Can’t Be Superachievers
- Be Aware of the Snowball Effect of Your Thinking
- Develop Your Compassion
- Remind Yourself That When You Die, Your ‘In’ Box Won’t Be Empty
- Don’t Interrupt Others or Finish Their Sentences
- Do Something Nice for Someone Else – and Don’t Tell Anyone About It
- Let Others Have the Glory
- Learn to Live in the Present Moment
- Imagine that Everyone is Enlightened Except You
- Let Others Be 'right' most of the time
- Become More Patient
- Create 'Patience Practice Periods'
- Be the first one to Act Loving or Reach out.
- Ask Yourself the question, "Will this matter a year from now"
- Surrender to the Fact That Life Isn’t Fair
- Allow yourself to be Bored - Peace - Release
- Lower your tolerance to stress
- Once a week write a Heartfelt letter
- Imagine yourself at your own funeral
- Repeat to yourself, "Life Isn't an Emergency"
- Experiment with your back burner
- Spend a Moment Every Day Thinking of someone to Thank
- Smile at strangers, look into their eyes and say Hello
- Set aside quiet time, everyday
- Imagine the People in Your life as Tiny Infants and as One Hundred Year Old Adults
- Seek First to Understand
- Become a Better Listener
- Choose Your Battles Wisely
- Become aware of your moods and dont allow yourself to be fooled by the low ones
- Life is a test. It is only a test.
- Praise and Blame are al the same.
- Practice Random act of Kindness
- Look Beyond Behavior
- Se the Innocence
- Choose Being Kind over Being right
- Tell three people today, how much you love them.
- Practice Humility
- When in doubt about whose turn it is to take out the trash, go ahead and take it out.
- Avoid Weatherproofing
- Spend a Moment, Every Day, Thinking of Someone to Love
- Become an Anthropologist
- Understand Separate Realities
- Develop your own helping rituals
- Every day, tell at least one person something you like, admire or appreciate about them
- Argue for your limitations and they're yours
- Remember that everything has God's fingerprint on it.
- Resist the urge to Criticize
- Write down your five most stubborn positions and see if you can soften them
- Just for fun, agree with criticism directed towards you (then watch it go away)
- Search for the grain of truth in other opinions
- See the Glass as Already Broken (and Everything Else Too)
- Understand the statement, "Wherever You Go, There You Are"
- Breathe Before You Speak
- Be Grateful when You're feeling Good and Graceful when You're feeling Bad
- Become a less aggressive driver
- Relax
- Adopt a child through the mail
- Turn your Melodrama into a Mellow-Drama
- Read Articles and Books with Entirely Different Points of View from Your own and try to Learn something
- Do One Thing at a Time
- Count to Ten
- Practice Being in the "Eye of the Storm"
- Be Flexible with changes in Your Plans
- Think of What You Have Instead of What You Want
- Practice Ignoring Your Negative Thoughts
- Be willing to learn from Friends and Family
- Be Happy Where you are
- Remember that You Become what you practice most
- Quiet the Mind
- Take Up Yoga
- Make Service an Integral Part of Your life
- Do a Favour and Don't Ask for or Expect, one in Return,
- Think of Your Problems as Potential Teachers
- Get Comfortable Not Knowing
- Acknowledge the Totality of Your Being
- Cut Yourself Some Slack
- Stop Blaming Others
- Become an Early Riser
- When Trying to be helpful, focus on little things
- Remember, One Hundred years from Now, all new people
- Lighten Up
- Nurture a plant
- Transform Your Relationship to your problems
- The Next Time You Find Yourself in an Argument, Rather than Defend Your Position, See if You can See the Other Point of View First
- Redefine a " Meaningful Accomplishment"
- Listen to Your feelings (They are trying to tell you something)
- If someone Throws you the ball, you don't have to catch it.
- One more passing show
- Fill your life with love
- Realize the power of your own thoughts
- Give Up on the Idea that More Is Better
- Keep Asking Yourself, ‘What’s Really Important?’
- Trust your intuitive Heart
- Be Open to "What Is"
- Mind Your Own Business
- Look for the Extraordinary in the Ordinary
- Schedule Time for Your Inner Work
- Live This Day as if it Were Your Last. It Might Be!