Pulitzer Prize-nominated American poet Ron Padgett is best known for his poems written for Jim Jarmusch’s film Paterson. His ironic recipe includes just over a hundred simple, universal, but no less beautiful elements of human happiness, which everyone has their own.
The poetry of Ron Padgett over the past 20 years has received wide recognition both from specialists and from an unsophisticated public, which rarely falls into the hands of poetry collections.
His recommendations are like talking to a friend: witty, humane, and infinitely wise. Perhaps some of the rules apply to you.
1. Sleep.
2. Don’t give advice.
3. Watch the condition of your teeth and gums.
4. Don’t worry about anything you can’t control. Don’t be afraid, for example, that a building will collapse while you are sleeping, or that someone you love will suddenly die.
5. Eat an orange every morning.
6. Be friendly, it will help you become happier.
7. Get your heart rate up to 120 beats per minute for 20 minutes straight 4 or 5 times a week and do what you enjoy doing.
8. Hope for everything. Don’t expect anything.
9. Take care of things that are closer to you. Clean up the room before you decide to save the world. Then save the world.
10. Know that the desire to be perfect is perhaps a veiled expression of another desire: to be happy or to live forever.
11. Keep your eyes on the tree.
12. Be skeptical of all opinions, but try to find value in each one.
13. Dress in a way that pleases both you and others.
14. Not a tarator.
15. Learn something new every day (Dzien dobre!).
16. Be kind to others before they have a chance to behave badly.
17. Do not be angry for more than a week, but do not forget what upset you. Keep anger at arm’s length and look at it as if it were a glass ball. Then add it to your collection of glass balls.
18. Be faithful.
19. Wear comfortable shoes.
20. Get a pet.
21. Don’t spend too much time in crowds.
22. If you need help, ask for it.
23. Plan your day so that you don’t have to rush.
24. Thank those who did something for you, even if you paid them for it, even if they did something that you did not need.
25. Do not spend money that you could give to those who need it.
26. Look at the bird above your head.
27. As often as possible, use wooden things instead of plastic or metal ones.
28. Don’t expect love from your children. They will give it to you if they want.
29. Keep your windows clean.
30. Eradicate all traces of personal ambition.
31. Don’t use the verb «uproot» too often.
32. Forgive your country from time to time. If you can’t, leave. If you’re tired, take a break.
33. Grow something.
34. Appreciate simple pleasures: from warm water running down your back, a cool breeze, falling asleep.
35. Don’t get depressed because you’re getting old. This will make you feel even older, which is even more depressing.
36. Do not spray.
37. Enjoy sex, but don’t be obsessed with it. Except for short periods in adolescence, youth, middle age and old age.
38. Keep your childish «I» intact.
39. Remember the beauty that exists and the truth that does not exist. Note that the idea of truth is as powerful as the idea of beauty.
40. Read and re-read great books.
41. Go to a shadow play and pretend you are one of the characters. Or all at once.
42. Love life.