To get the most out of life, we need to make the right choices.  We need to learn the things to start doing in 2023 and the things to stop doing in 2023.  If you do this you will create a better life.  Don’t you want that?

Start Doing the Right Things

To do the right things literally means making choices that are good for other people and the planet instead of making choices that only benefit you.  It means considering the needs of others and creating a better world for everyone.  Examples would be helping others who are less fortunate and promoting personal autonomy and freedom.

A better life is something we need to define before we strive to reach it. However, this quest isn’t as easy as it should be.  Religion, negative politics, and commercialism control much of the cultural narrative, and they profit from telling us what we should believe and achieve.  Most of the time, it means buying things we don’t want or need.

Many people find the treadmills of religion and commercialism do not bring joy and happiness.  The things we value most in life are often things we cannot buy.

Sometimes we confuse desire with value.  We can desire things that are not what we value in life at all.  Addictions are desires disguised as something that fills a legitimate need.  The belief in fairy tales and superstition is also a losing proposition.  You may think there is value in religion, but you would be wrong.  Magical thinking is a waste of your valuable time.

Religion sells ideologies.  It uses promises of financial success and health, but its best-selling product by far is the afterlife benefits of heaven.  These are all sales tactics that make people customers.  It substitutes counterfeit answers that do not answer the essential questions of life.

There’s a better way.

When we say start doing the right things, what comes to mind?

When you define your better life make sure it has positive outcomes not only for you but for everyone in your circle of influence and the planet.  If your goal is to be wealthy, get specific on the number you think is needed.  Then, define the plan to get there again without doing things that are illegal or harm others or the planet.

For example, if you think taking away something from a group of people will make your life better, you are wrong.  This is harmful; you need another goal.  Or, if you think you can profit from misleading someone, you are wrong.  In the end, being a religious extremist or Republican will not make your life better because you are harming others by imposing your values on others.  You get the idea.  One of the main things to stop doing in 2023 is enabling criminal activity in government.

If you can’t come up with a design for your life that doesn’t harm others or the planet, brainstorm and find a better goal.

Daily Mindfulness Checklist

Don’t worry.  This isn’t going to be a long laundry list; only two things.

The key to getting the most out of this strategy is persistence because changing long-standing patterns of thought and behaviors is difficult.   So, before you begin the process, we recommend reviewing the article on change and how it might affect your life.

What we are asking you to do is change the direction of something which has a lot of force, your habitual nature.  So, two things will be enough.  One thing we want to start and one thing we want to stop.

It is common to think we are ready for change, and then we run into some roadblock that makes us second-guess our decision.  Knowing how you react to emotional roadblocks is helpful.  Review the coping skills for change to keep on track, and it will give you the knowledge to push through.

Here’s a simple daily mindfulness checklist.  Put a reminder on your smartphone for every hour with the two things you want to change.

You can preface these two things with the question, “Are You Present?”  When you are present you are being mindful of what you are thinking and doing.  This tactic will ensure you can stick with the plan we are going to create, which will help us stay on track when you trying to stop or start a behavior.

It’s important to realize that the process of changing your thinking patterns can take some time.  Some people spend months or even years, especially when they have addictive or compulsive behaviors. The things to start doing in 2023 will use the habitual aspect of our nature to build positive behaviors.

Seek professional help with this process inner work process if you have a history of addictive or compulsive behaviors.  A skilled counselor can help you through this life-change process.  Anytime you do inner work, you can expect any unresolved issues to surface.   So a good counselor can help you deal with the roadblocks to your new, better life.  Since we all have our own life experiences, there isn’t one way to handle these.

It’s also helpful to find a partner walking the same path.  It’s true you walk your own path, but it doesn’t mean you can’t go with someone traveling in the same direction.  You don’t need to be alone.  A partner involved in this same type of change process will help you.  And you may find that assisting them to will bring clarity to your own struggles.

Things to Start Doing in 2023 and Things to Stop Doing in 2023

Notice we attach a timeframe of 2023 to these tasks.  So, this is the year to put a plan in place to improve your life.  Yes, you will probably fail at some point.  No problem. You simply start again.  When you start doing the right things, sometimes you see the results immediately.  Other times, it takes a while before you see traction and improvement.  It all depends on the size of the obstacles you have to overcome.

This strategy involves stopping negative thought patterns and behaviors, which makes room for adding positive ones.  Then, with the new space, you can reprogram with positive scripts.  It sounds easy.  So why is this so hard?

Finding the harmful scripts is actually easy; it is stopping the habitual long-standing thought behavior patterns, which is difficult. Habitual behaviors reinforce the negative things and situations in our lives. It’s a self-perpetuating circle of negative thoughts and actions. It’s the essence of self-sabotage.  We often know exactly what negative self-talk is and what actions follow, but you can’t wish them away. You need the right strategy or tools to remove them.

Habitual activities become unconscious thoughts and actions.  We do the very things we don’t want to do.  Breaking this cycle takes some work, but these are what get in the way of the things we value most in life.

Another common issue is what we call the comfort zone because our Ego is comfortable in any situation where it can maintain control, even if it is unhealthy.   People can live in unhealthy conditions and do harmful things, yet they do not want to change.  Just because you are comfortable where you are doesn’t mean it’s healthy.  If you can envision a better life, you have a goal that can help lead you out of the twilight zone of the comfort zone.

Here’s the positive.  Stopping destructive behaviors leaves more room for good behaviors. We learn to use the mind’s habitual nature to install positive thoughts and actions.

There are some universal actions we can take to create a better life.  It involves some changes in the way to live, but the return is worth it.  When we have more time and space, we can move toward what we value in life.

Your plan to execute the things you want to stop or start needs to be short, one thing to start and one to stop.  Think of it as a goal.  It’s your daily mindfulness checklist of the things you want to change.  Some people like to pick something easy to begin with, while others like to go for the more difficult things.  Just remember, if it’s a big goal, it will take a long time to conquer.

An example of an easy goal for something positive to start doing is to meditate for 2 minutes a day.  Consistency with this goal will build your willpower to accomplish bigger goals.  There aren’t any easy examples of the things you need to stop.  Stopping any habitual thinking pattern or behavior is hard.  So, let’s begin with the things you should stop:

The Things to Stop Doing in 2023

Many people find this to be the most challenging aspect of the exercise, but you need to remove the negative self-talk scripts to make room for the positive. Don’t try to program good things to offset the bad.  It will not work. The negative ways are powerful and will cancel out the positive, leaving you feeling guilty.  One of the things on your daily mindfulness checklist needs to be something you need to change or stop.

So, for these strategies for a better life to work, you need to identify the negative patterns. Then you can remove them. It makes space for new self-talk and positive behaviors.  Here is a list of the most common things that are roadblocks.

• • Above all, Don’t live life as a victim.  It makes you powerless with the rest of this process.  Everyone has some past traumas. You’ll need to take the time to deal with them.  The problem here is the victim mentality becomes your identity.  When you are a victim, you live life with an undercurrent of fear and anxiety. The goal is to transform from a victim to a victorious survivor.

• • How can you tell if you have a victim mentality?  One way to tell is you spend a lot of time blaming other people for your situation.  Bad stuff happens to almost everyone.  The challenge is learning from these experiences and moving on.  If you can’t move on, you get stuck and start blaming others.

• • Resist living and believing what society tells you to think.  Don’t let others determine what we value in life.  We see at least one hundred (100) different advertisements for goods and services every day.  Stay away from network TV and radio.  That subliminal stuff works whether you realize it or not.

• • Don’t let yourself get caught up in consumerism. It’s a trap.   Stop following popular trends and fashions because it leads to unhealthy comparisons and is a never-ending spiral that always leads to unhappiness.  The addiction to shopping is one of the main things to stop doing in 2023.  If what you buy doesn’t fulfill a legitimate need, don’t buy it. Can you do it?

• • Trying to make other people happy is a trap.  Of course, you still need to meet your boss’s needs at work and meet the company’s goals.  Do not make it personal.

• • Relying on others to make you happy is a mindset that makes you codependent.

• • Stop or minimize your exposure to self-hypnosis and group hypnosis tactics, which come from the propaganda of religion and politics.  It comes in several forms, including radio and TV programming.  It often requires weekly or semiweekly meetings.  So, you get lots of exposure to harmful programming, which is dangerous for you and everyone on the planet.  It takes up a lot of mental bandwidth and stunts your ability to use reason and common sense.

How do you stop these thought patterns?  First, you need to find them.  There are some basic tools for discovering your thought patterns.  The Enneagram personality profile questionnaire will help you identify your primary personality type, which will outline the most common unhealthy thought patterns for your type and instinctual stack.

The second way is to brainstorm using the repeating question exercise.  Many people find the automatic handwriting technique also reveals some thought patterns that are unhealthy.

Finding these patterns in only the beginning.  Just identifying them won’t remove them or make them less powerful.  Removing them will take some inner work to find the reasons you harbor the unhealthy scripts. Digging into the psyche can be messy.  It’s best done with a partner, qualified spiritual instructor or psychological professional.

Things to Start Doing in 2023

Once you’ve eliminated the negative, it’s time to reprogram.  Don’t cheat.  If you don’t eliminate it first, you won’t have the space for the new programming.  The old stuff is more powerful, and it will override any new programming.

The space and clarity of thought will make these new processes more powerful. It’s where strategies for a better life pay off.  If you are already doing some positive things, reinforce them.  If you aren’t doing these things, then it’s time to start using them.  You can do this!

• • Where to start, what to start?  Start by making the most of your resources, life situation, and abilities.  Most people are underemployed, and many people have valuable skills and knowledge they don’t use, so find an outlet for these abilities, try volunteering.

• • Find out about the mechanisms of your mind.  Use the Enneagram of Personality Profile.  This tool will show you your Ego’s default settings and how to move beyond them.

• • Create and maintain a beginner’s mindset.  Use every meeting as a learning opportunity.

• • Spend time alone in meditation, so learn to meditate!

• • Practice mindfulness meditation techniques to increase your presence.  Some people put this activity on their daily mindfulness checklist in addition to the things they want to start and stop.

• • Go outdoors, and spend time in nature. Connect with the old gods.   Learn the practices of forest bathing and tree grounding.

• • Learn how to research and come to your conclusions.  The scientific process brought us out of the dark ages.  Science, not mythology, is at the root of all human advances. Learn something scientific and apply it to your life.  Learn how to spot the facts from fiction.

• • Cultivate and express your creativity.  Art is an expression of the heart.  The source of creative insight comes from a deep place in our spirit.  Do art for yourself, not for others.

• • Learn how to open the voice of your intuition.  We need to trust our hearts to lead us to what we value in life.

• • Help others in any way you can and be open to receiving guidance.  Be a kind person.

• • Enhance your observational powers.  Learn to observe your thoughts without judgment.

• • Use positive affirmations.  However, don’t add these too soon.  They won’t cancel out negative self-talk.  Apply them once you’ve eliminated negative self-talk.

• • Practice moving meditation.

• • Add at least one element of self-care to your routine.

Helpful Tools

• • Use your smartphone to remind you of your daily mindfulness checklist with the things you should start or stop.

• • Use sticky notes on your refrigerator, on your bathroom mirror, and in your car.

• • Don’t reward yourself for success by indulging in something negative.  On the other hand, don’t punish yourself when you fail. Find the lessons in the experience. Realize that you aren’t perfect. Remember, this type of change isn’t easy.  You may have setbacks, but keep the goal in mind.

In Conclusion

Learning the things to stop doing in 2023 is the first step.  But don’t forget to start doing the right things that are good for you and everyone.  Be sure to make a plan for the things to start doing in 2023.   Remember, it will take persistence.  These strategies for a better life aren’t easy.  But then, change never is.  So, are you willing to put in the work to make it happen?

Change is often incremental, so other people may notice the changes in your attitude and behaviors before you do.  So, keep a spiritual journal of this inner work, and it will help you see the small steps of growth and identify any patterns you need to change.

You cannot change the past.  However, you can write some new chapters into the present story of your life.  Keep the goal in mind.  Move toward the things we value most in life.