#Strategy : 12 Tiny Transformations That Will Improve your Life…The Biggest Reminder of All, Is that Live in a Society Driven by Notions of Scarcity Where we’re Taught that There is Never Enough of Anything: Money, #Jobs, Natural Resources, Time, or #Success.

Non-resistance in crowds and traffic.

Just let the other guy go first. Instead of pushing your way onto the train first, step aside and let others disembark. Instead of trying to merge aggressively ahead of traffic, let a couple cars pass first.

Life is only a combat zone if you contribute to it, so reduce your stress, think of these as acts of kindness, and let the busy-bodies get out of your way.

Try it for a day and see if you feel a weight lifted off your shoulders when you stop putting up a fight in these relatively unimportant situations.

Incorporating acts of kindness into your diet.

Along with taking deep breaths and letting the lady on your right merge during rush hour, make an overall effort to be more kind. Kindness to others contributes to a sense of accountability to one another, which in turn helps manifest and maintain calmness.

I started with smiling at the person next to me on the subway when I sat down or holding doors for others without expecting a thank you. Then I moved on from strangers to loved ones: picking up the dinner tab, surprising mom with a little something, you get the idea.

A lot of people emphasize doing random acts of kindness for strangers, but it’s equally as (or even more) important for the people you care about most.

Eating at a table.

It may sound silly, but one of the best things I’ve started doing is being mindful when I eat my meals.

I don’t multi-task, I don’t use my cell phone, I don’t take calls, I don’t have lunch at my desk, I don’t do my make-up during breakfast, I just sit and eat — even if I’m alone.

I also try to schedule meals with other people as often as possible. In his How to Live to 100 speech, Dan Buettner shares the all-important principle that our health hinges on more than just what we eat, but how and with whom we eat.

By all means, eat organic, increase your daily intake of fruits and vegetables, reduce sugar, meat, alcohol, and coffee, and eliminate processed foods, but also be conscious of food as a social and even meditative practice.

Living well below my means and saving money.

Both of the greatest gurus of Western and Eastern civilization, Buddha and Aristotle, preached the principle of moderation as the key to happiness.

Andrew Carnegie, in “The Gospel of Wealth,” writes that the wealthy should view themselves as custodians of excess revenues and agents to act on behalf of their “poorer brethren.”

Ostentatious spending is wasteful, supports a contagious breed of consumerism, and offers no path to long-term happiness. A thoughtful savings regime promotes selective purchasing behavior that values money as a resource, not a quick-hit commodity.

Monitoring for self-defensive thoughts or actions.

Many people live life on the defense, which is a direct product of our ego, the part of the brain that houses the self-created concept of who we are and leads to feelings of scarcity and incompleteness.

It is always focused on the past or future and is perpetually seeking what it needs outside, creating a compelling future but not a compelling present.

It devotes its energy to proving who we (think we) are and defending ourselves against anyone who threatens that sense of self. It is based on separateness from everything else and everyone else. It creates “plans” for our happiness that come from money, fame, and success instead of what we already are.

We can be held hostage by our ego, driven often by fear, struggle, guilt, attachment, competition, and survival. Monitor for that kind of “ego thinking” and acknowledge and accept that areas of deep insecurity it usually reveals.

Looking at problems differently.

The Buddha once said that everyone has 83 problems — and the 84th is our wish to have no problems.

Try this tactic the next time things don’t go your way, something one of my favorite authors, Nick Williams, advocates that instead of getting upset, ask yourself, “What am I being called to understand here? What would be the most loving and compassionate response in this situation?”

We can use challenges to either take us off track or to teach us love and forgiveness, so why not choose the latter?

Incorporating meditation into my daily life.

All the latest yoga and meditation rage is on to something: these practices work. I find meditation is kind of like going to the gym — you absolutely dread going at first, but you’re always glad you went and you even start craving it after awhile.

I read Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “The Miracle of Mindfulness,” which helped me get started, and now use the Headspace app to find a few minutes for quiet and observation every morning.