Breaking the pattern

Here are some activities to break our routine and cut new pathways in the brain. These are what we normally don’t do and will require extra effort to shift us out of our comfort zone.

1. Ask for forgiveness from a person you have hurt

2. Forgive someone who has hurt you

3. Praise a stranger

4. Change your hairstyle

5. Wear different clothes

6. Get up earlier than usual

7. Speak to someone you have not spoken to for years

8. Walk in the rain

9. Donate a large sum to charity

10. Fast for one whole day

11. Don’t talk to anyone for six hours

12. Go to a place in your city you have never been to

13. Get your hands dirty in the garden

14. Read on a subject you have never read before

15. Memorise three important phone numbers

16. Walk in a locality you have never been before

17. Read about an unfamiliar religion

18. Write twenty good things about a person who you dislike

19. Take a different route to work

20. Write down ten things that would make your family happy

21. Perform a random act of kindness

22. Visit an old age home or orphanage or school for special children

23. Clear the litter on the beach

24. Create a joke

25. Starve yourself of social media for a day

26. Order an unfamiliar dish at a restaurant

27. Take a short walk every hour by keeping a timer

28. Finish a task you have been postponing

29. Attempt a short story or article

30. Write with your left hand

31. Learn a new physical exercise

32. Create a family tree

33. Create an e-album

34. Invite a person working under you for dinner

35. Buy your parents a surprise gift

36. Do things unhurriedly for a day

37. Eat slower than normal for a day

38. Do nothing for fifteen minutes

39. Note down the top ten good things you have done in your life

40. Digitize old black-and-white photos

41. Invite your boss for lunch

42. Give a large tip at a restaurant

43. Go on a roller coaster ride

44. Go skydiving

45. Drive very slowly on an empty road

46. Buy at a shop you have never been to

47. Don’t take the elevator for a day

48. Park your vehicle at a distance and walk the extra mile

49. Walk barefoot at home and in the garden

50. Ask a friend for a donation to a charity