7 WAYS TO UPGRADE YOUR LIFESTYLE

     Fortunately, we Americans enjoy the great blessing of easy access to the community colleges and university extension courses offered in every town and city. For the price of a couple of dinners out, you can learn creative writing, Java, Mandarin, winemaking, yoga or zoology. To those who have had your minds numbed by the repetitive and narrowly constricted routine of the workdaday world, taking classes is like recapturing a bit of the idyllic freedom we enjoyed as students. It will add years to your intellectual life, not to mention new vitality to your conversational options.

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3. Turn Nature into Your Backyard
        Nature is one of life's lasting pleasures. Sadly, to many it's only the vegetation in their backyards or the view through their car windows. Whether the natural offerings in your area are rugged mountains, rolling hills or painted deserts, the scenic beauty, invigorating air and opportunities for exploration and discovery make it a vital resource for self-renewal. Nature is the only place in which you can feel at once a sense of solitude and a connection with the universe.
        Depending on climate, terrain and accessibility, buy yourself a good pair of hiking boots, a backpack and a canteen and find a spot where you can enjoy nature in relative isolation. It doesn't have to be an all-day commitment, especially if you're a tenderfoot. Once you experience a couple of hours of nature, you will be looking forward to the next outing when you can spend more time discovering what's around the bend or over the ridge. Before long you will be itching to learn your way around entire mountain ranges. If you're one of those restless people who needs something to keep your hands busy, combine nature with a hobby like photography or rock collecting.
        Cultivating an active appreciation for nature is the least expensive and most pleasant way to decrease your sense of alienation from a sometimes senseless world while increasing your physical vitality.
   
   
4. Enrich your home with Asian arts & crafts.
        No matter how expensively your home is furnished, it screams second-rate unless it show a distinctive connection to who you are. At its best a home is a reflection of your soul. That doesn't mean it has to be filled with antiques to be authentic. Get acquainted with the arts and crafts of your ancestral culture. Even the sleekest, most ultra-modern home can be connected to your family heritage through choice accents like Chinese armoires, calligraphy scrolls, celadon urns, Japanese screens. When you reaffirm your cultural lineage, you elevate your home from a possession to a symbol of cultural ownership.
   
   
5. Make your second car a bike.
        What's more responsive than a Porsche, sexier than a Ferrari, quieter than a Benz, more rugged than a Hummer and gets better gas mileage than a Honda Civic gas-electric hybrid? You know the answer. A bike is also cheaper than a health-club membership and will make you look better than a whole new wardrobe. Combine it with a bumper rack and it will take you to unforgettable places the way no car can.
   
   
6. Buy your fruits and vegetables directly from farmers.
        Fruits and vegetables bred for shelf life and picked prematurely to be ripened in cargo containers and refrigerated warehouses just don't taste as good as their freshly picked counterparts. They also lack much of the nutritional value. To add insult to injury, supermarket produce is often more expensive than the offerings of roadside stands, farmers markets and farms themselves. Besides, what could be more romantic than picking peaches or tomatoes in some scenic countryside in the good old summertime?

7. Automate your financial life.
        Paying bills ranks near the bottom of everyone's list of favorite activities. Running to the bank to deposit and cash checks are down there too. If you're still wasting precious time doing such things the old-fashioned way, you're a relic of the twentieth century.
        Thanks to the internet, you can take care of every financial transaction from the comfort of your PC. Start by opening an online checking account -- which can be done online in most cases. That will let you automate everything from depositing your paychecks to paying bills to transferring money to savings or retirement accounts. Yes, you can finally bid adieu to paper checks, bank lines and postal boxes, and spend the time on more twenty-first-century things like locating and downloading those old twentieth-century favorites into your iTunes library.

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   “Yes, you can finally bid adieu to paper checks, bank lines and postal boxes, and spend the time on more twenty-first-century pursuits like locating and downloading those old twentieth-century favorites into your iTunes library.”