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Every practice in the library, in one list. Narrow it by how long you have, who it is written for, and where you are right now.
One walker keeps a small pebble in his sock on walks he would otherwise take in a daze. Every few steps it says the same thing: you are here, this is now.
A physical reminder beats an intention, because an intention needs you to remember it and a pebble does not. Anything mildly odd and continuous does…
If you are helping someone set up a practice like this, ask them for ideas before you offer yours. Keep a few in your back pocket for when they run dry.
What people invent for themselves fits their actual life, and they are far more likely to do it. Have suggestions ready anyway, because a brainstorm…
Offer a practice as a question rather than an instruction. What do you think it would be like to wake yourself up once a day? That is a very different sentence from you should.
People argue with instructions, particularly people who were sent rather than came. A question leaves them to make the case, and the case they make…
Having the capacity to choose and actually using it are separate questions, and only the second one changes your evening. The useful work all sits in the gap between them.
Arguments about whether people are ultimately free go nowhere you can use. What you can check is how often you used the choice you had this week and…
Looking for a whole subject rather than a single practice? Start from the nine areas.
A routine only helps you while you still mean it. Every so often, ask whether you are keeping a habit because you chose it or because you stopped noticing it.
Discipline does real work. It takes the decision out of the moment, so you are not negotiating with yourself while your pulse is up. The risk is that…