Today I finished reading “The Humans” by Matt Haig which was a fun and insightful book that I found really enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the chapter titled “Advice for a Human” in which the main character (an alien) offers 97 pieces of advice to a young human based on his experiences on earth. Below are a few that really resonated with me.

Shame is a shackle. Free yourself.

Don’t worry about your abilities. You have the ability to love. That is enough.

Technology won’t save humankind. Humans will.

Sometimes, to be yourself you will have to forget yourself and become something else. Your character is not a fixed thing. You will sometimes have to move to keep up with it.

Your life will have 25,000 days in it. Make sure you remember some of them.

Don’t worry about being angry. Worry when being angry becomes impossible. Because then you have been consumed.

New technology, on Earth, just means something you will laugh at in five years. Value the stuff you won’t laugh at in five years. Like love. Or a good poem. Or the sky.

If there is a sunset, stop and look at it. Knowledge is finite. Wonder is infinite.

Don’t aim for perfection. Evolution, and life, only happens through mistakes.

Don’t always try and be cool. The whole universe is cool. It’s the warm bits that matter.

Walt Whitman was right about at least one thing. You will contradict yourself. You are large. You contain multitudes.

Everything matters.

You have the power to stop time. You do it by kissing. Or listening to music.

A paradox. The things you don’t need to live – books, art, cinema, literature, wine and so on – are the things you need to live.

At some point, bad things are going to happen. Have someone to hold onto.

Don’t ever be afraid of telling someone you love them. There are things wrong with your world, but an excess of love is not one.

When you watch the news, and see members of your species in turmoil, do not think there is nothing you can do. But know it is not done by watching news.

You can’t find happiness looking for the meaning of life. Meaning is only the third most important thing. It comes after loving and being.

If you think something is ugly, look harder. Ugliness is just a failure of seeing.

To like something is to insult it. Love it or hate it. Be passionate. As civilization advances, so does indifference. It is a disease. Immunize yourself with art. And love.