“How to Live Your Life” – Robert Louis Stevenson

 Taken from 12 pieces of advice on Make up Your Mind to Be Happy – Learn to find pleasure in simple things

• Make the best of your circumstances – no-one has everything and everyone has something of sorrow intermingled with the gladness of life; the trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears
• Don’t take yourself too seriously:
• Don’t think that somehow, you should be protected from the misfortunes that befall others
• You can’t please everybody; don’t let criticism hurt you
• Don’t let your neighbors set your standards; be yourself
• Do the things you enjoy doing, but always stay out of debt
• Don’t borrow trouble; imaginary things are harder to bear than the actual ones
• Since hate poisons the soul, don’t cherish enmities or grudges;
• Avoid people who make you unhappy
• Have many interests; if you can’t travel, read about new places
• Don’t hold post-mortems; don’t spend your life brooding over sorrows or mistakes;
• don’t be one who never gets over things
• Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself
• Keep busy at something; a busy person never has time to be unhappy