Wake Up! by Chris Baréz-Brown

Do you ever find yourself on autopilot, going through life thoughtlessly and automatically?  Christ Baréz-Brown has some suggestions for you.  In Wake Up! A Handbook for Living in the Here and Now, he offers "54 playful strategies to help you snap out of autopilot."  In a sense, this is a book about mindfulness, but not meditation and yoga.  He is in favor of those things, but his ideas are more active and forward moving.  He encourages us to "deliberately . . . bring in new and different experiences to our lives that will provoke a heightened sense of consciousness as we engage with them."

Baréz-Brown's suggestions range from the silly to the commonplace, from the obvious to the surprising.  Physical needs play a part.  He's in favor of experimenting with cutting sugar, caffeine and alcohol, with cutting bread and dairy (at least for a time), and with making your own food rather than relying on packaged food.  He recommends turning off the TV, taking walks, standing while working, and dancing.  He encourages creativity, drawing and writing about one's day, writing an original song, or taking on someone else's identity just for fun (not identity theft, just being a fictional character, for instance).

He's into simplicity.  Try spending less than $5 a day.  Wear the same clothes several days in a row.  Enjoy nature.  Turn off your devices.  My favorite suggestions relate to other people.  Make amends with someone.  Write someone a letter.  Say yes without hesitation when someone asks you to do something.  Most of all, "make a pact with yourself to try to make everybody you meet smile."  I love that plan!

Wake Up! includes lots of space to journal, jot down ideas for action, draw pictures, make lists, and keep track of your decisions.  Baréz-Brown doesn't want you to sit and read this book straight through, but to read a challenge or two, do it, and keep a record of your results.  He offers a wide variety of activities.  I think any one of them will be challenging and will transform your day.  Do them all, it may just transform your life.