How can you live "the good life"?

In the process of moving home after graduating college I had packed my books, which I had at school, in boxes and placed in our storage room along with my toaster and other items. This left me with nothing to put on the bookshelf in my room -- still empty from when my Grandma Jensby delivered and placed it there for my 22nd birthday present. I combed through all of the other bookshelves in my parents' home, collecting books I wanted to read and filling my bookshelf with them.

A book of my mother's that I found and have been reading recently is You are Your Choices: 50 Ways to Live the Good Life by Alexandra Stoddard. In case you couldn't tell by the title, it's a self-improvement book. There are quite a few of these on my bookshelf because (1) my parents are the type of people who read them and (2) I chose to look at this time between college and securing a job as a time for exponential personal growth and continued learning. Yes, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is on my bookshelf, too, because we didn't read it in my Leadership Studies courses.

While so many self-improvement books sound the same, You are Your Choices is unique. The reader can tell Stoddard is well-read in philosophy; she often refers to Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato's thoughts on how to live life. It is this incorporation of philosophers' thoughts with her own life experiences that made me keep reading (and want to read the philosophers' books, too). She is not only presenting 50 lessons learned from her own life. She is presenting 50 lessons she and thought-leaders from centuries ago have identified as ways to live life to its fullest.

Today I decided that this is a book that would be valuable to read once a year. In January, perhaps, to start the year off well. I also decided that, for the rest of the year, I wanted Stoddard's list of lessons to be somewhere readily available for me to refer to. So, here I am listing her 50 lessons. I encourage everyone to read the entire book, though, because the titles of her 50 lessons barely skim the surface of their deeper value.

Alexandra Stoddard's 50 Ways to Live the Good Life

1. Every Day, Commit Yourself to Experiencing the Good Life
2. Be True to All Your Choices
3. Be Responsible -- Say No
4. Stand On Your Own Two Feet
5. Information Is Not Inspiration
6. Take Satisfaction in Doing the Right Thing
7. Go After What You Love
8. Have Realistic Expectations
9. Live from the Inside Out
10. Celebrate Simple Ceremonies
11. Reevaluate Your Priorities Regularly
12. Have as Few Regrets as Possible
13. Leave the Safe Harbor
14. Who Knows, It Might Be Good
15. Redefine What Is Beautiful
16. The Power of Flowers
17. Share the Beauty
18. Live with the Objects You Love
19. Why Not Be Comfortable? 
20. Maintain Balance Through Your Choices
21. Cultivate Good Energy
22. Cheap Thrills Are Thrilling
23. You Own Your Self
24. Stop Complaining
25. Accept Responsibility
26. Be Aware
27. Your Choices Count Most in a Crisis
28. Faster Isn't Better
29. Reach Out -- Literally
30. Privacy Please
31. A Free Day for You
32. Good Design Matters
33. Enough Is Enough
34. Give Yourself Time
35. Get Going
36. Embrace Variety
37. Move On
38. Walk Away
39. See the Big in the Little
40. Surround Yourself with People You Trust
41. Intuition Is Your Guiding Light
42. Never Say Never
43. Understand the Law of Cause and Effect
44. Choose Love for Yourself and Others
45. Do More Things That Make You Happy
46. Trust Your Subjective Well-Being
47. Avoid Perfection in Pursuit of Excellence
48. Get Organized
49. Why Not Now? 
50. Wise Choices, Yes, and Good Luck