Actively cultivate Kusala (skillful, beneficial, wholesome mind states) to increase happiness, reduce suffering (e.g., depression, anxiety), and improve relationships, as it is the universal ‘medicine’ for well-being.
Focus on cultivating any single Kusala quality (e.g., faith, mindfulness, generosity, acceptance, morality, tranquility, uprightness) to automatically activate all other Kusala qualities simultaneously, as they always co-arise.
Consciously bring Kusala qualities (e.g., mindfulness, loving-kindness, gratitude, service) to routine, autopilot activities like chores, commuting, or emails, to compound positive habits over time.
During unproductive downtime (e.g., scrolling on your phone), intentionally engage in Kusala practices like gratitude, planning acts of generosity for others, or meditation, instead of defaulting to distraction.
For unavoidable, actively engaging tasks (e.g., work, parenting), consciously choose and bring a specific Kusala quality (e.g., service, patience, loving-kindness, tranquility) to the activity.
Identify activities that consistently drain your Kusala (i.e., you hate doing them and find it impossible to do them with a wholesome mind) and gradually steer your life away from having to engage in them.
Recognize that unwholesome actions (akusala) provide coarse, temporary pleasures driven by attachment to self; practice renunciation (non-addiction) by giving up these small pleasures to access a larger, more refined happiness.
Re-root your sense of well-being from fleeting bodily pleasures to the quality of attention and Kusala mind states you bring to any experience, whether pleasurable or painful.
When experiencing sense pleasures like eating, practice mindfulness to observe the impermanence of the pleasure and any underlying suffering, thereby transforming the experience into a Kusala moment and cultivating ‘disenchantment’.
In meditation, acknowledge and work with all arising thoughts, emotions, and sensations (e.g., hunger, irritation, sadness, habits of mind) rather than trying to suppress or bulldoze them.
Approach spiritual or meditative teachings with an attitude of ‘come and see’ (ehipassika), inviting investigation rather than requiring blind belief, especially for advanced practices.
Re-engage with challenging or previously avoided aspects of life to apply and integrate wisdom, allowing different parts of yourself to ‘come out to play’ for deeper practice.
Utilize advanced practices like discerning past lives to deepen your understanding of non-self, recognizing all experiences as momentary causal processes rather than reifying a fixed identity.
When impressed by the potential of a practice or teaching, commit to staying with it and learning deeply until you have mastered what is being taught.
Shift your fundamental orientation towards improving your quality of life by focusing on internal work and what’s happening on the inside, rather than seeking happiness solely from external factors.