If the company of good friends was a picture...

I'd imagine that if the company of good friends looked like something, it might look a little like a chandelier on a purple swirly ceiling with colorful lanterns and a whimsical curtain.

[In the weirdest way, this is reminiscent of Marc Chagall's "La Mariée" (The Bride). The way the lanterns don't really match the chandelier (why is a goat playing a violin?), the way everything stands out and blends together at the same time (the warm and cool colors), the wistfulness of the imagery (the young bride to be), the way your eyes can't stop moving (the curves in the image)...]

Simply simple

Simple, elegant, clean.

In writing, the (well-known) principle is called KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid).

In architecture and other art forms, it is called minimalism. All non-essential elements are stripped away so that only the essence of the subject is left. Minimalist architecture, inspired by Zen philosophy, became popular in the 1980s in London and New York. Minimalist design uses simple geometric forms, repetitions, basic materials, light and flow of light, and connection to the surrounding environment. Value is achieved through simple forms.

"How to be Less Stupid" is a nice post about the things we do that take away from our intelligence. Most of the examples are related to ways in which we complicate and bog down our thoughts and feelings. Simplifying our lives of unnecessary worrying, over-analysis of straightforward situations, mulling, second-guessing, regret, pity, doubt is like freeing up valuable real estate in our brains for much better things.

Actually simplifying things though, is the hard part. As Blaise Pascal put it: "I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short". But at least if you recognize it, you're one step closer to making it happen!

Be happy

Jump, bounce, play, do whatever makes you feel awesome. Be happy, period.

On your merry, serendipitous way

It's easier to think about the next step you're going to take -- in fact, your feet do it for you -- rather than what you're going to do at the end of the road.

The universe has a funny way of either burying you further when you're already in deep, or subtly throwing you little bits of cheer and serendipity to lift you back up. Like if a lovely little flower falls from the tree nearby and delightfully ends up perched on your shoe like a decoration. (Could the universe really have intended so much meaning? -- But) you could just take it to be a little reminder of beauty everywhere if you just cheer-up and look, or of fortunate accidents everywhere if you just let them happen to you instead of wallowing in unproductive blues, or of the fact that although there are a lot of little things that make you scared or sad or anxious, there are also a lot of little things that bring a smile to your face. If you take the bad things in stride and take the good things with self-propagating joy and appreciation, then maybe you can be on your merry way one step at a time, and none will be the wiser to your happy secret except you and the universe.

Eat, drink, and be healthy

Everything in moderation - which means you can eat that piece of chocolate or have that small glass of wine as long as you don't overdo it.

Here are some concoctions I've discovered have enough of a twist to keep things exciting but are also easy to incorporate into a busy day:

• easy + healthy: garbanzo beans (just boil) and little cheese squares on top of a salad
• fast + healthy: spinach (just cook in a pan) with fish or egg or anything else
• snack-ish + healthy: yogurt, blueberries, and granola with a few shavings of chocolate on top
• refreshing + healthy: water with a slice of lemon or a slice of cucumber in the morning
• universal + healthy: add spice to any dish to give it a different taste (turmeric, rosemary, dill, etc)
• just easy: water!

Fun fact: If you're like me and stubbornly decided not to trust that tomatoes keep their flavor better outside the fridge, I recommend just trying the experiment...

Put on your big-picture glasses

Say you're standing in front of a cliff, like the one below. All you can see is rock -- in front, above, all around -- and conclude that the path is dangerous, daunting, and can't be scaled. Perhaps you smile a little because looking closer you see someone has carved a cute little heart into the rock, but love is fickle man, and right now you just really need to get to unstuck.

So you step back and see all sorts of things... that there's actually a path around the cliff, that it gets less impressive farther down, and that there's a pleasant walk along the beach which might make you happier than the overhead climb... a panoramic solution.

"Look at the bigger picture" is not news (cf. [1], [2], [3], [4]) but it's easy enough to forget or take for granted. In addition to more easily re-assessing your options, when you step back, you can also re-asses your goals, and choose the best solution that gets you to the better goal. It's also pretty fun to try implementing the big-picture view in almost any activity. If you're reading a research article, think about how it applies to your work or to a peer's work. If you're coding up an algorithm for class, think about how it could work for another problem that, say, an architect would want to solve. Ask friends how they'd change their job, how they like it, how it affects the industry, the country, the economy, culture, people's lives. If you wear your big-picture glasses often enough, your eyes will adjust. Then when you really need it, you'll just see it.

Fun fact: "Panorama" was coined in 1792 by Irish painter Robert Barker. His panoramas were displayed in a London building built specifically for viewing large panoramic paintings.

[1] General life/work advice: When to give up on your goals

[2] In the lean start-up: employ rapid hypothesis testing and incorporate customer feedback earlier so that your goals change function of demand

[3] In chess: you plan a global strategy instead of looking at a single corner of the board

[4] In cells in the body: in addition to proximate motifs that signal for a gene to "turn on", there are also key distal regulatory elements many, many bases upstream regulating expression

[5] In the environment: if you set adrift a piece of wood on one side of the ocean, it eventually makes it's way to the other side (Japanese Tsunami Debris Reaches Alaska Shores)

Two roads converged

Two roads converged in a wood and I - I took the one I wanted to, and that has made all the difference...

[Modification of the original Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken"]