Four Cs that can change your life

I don't like lists of rules. They make me squirm and want to argue. But there is one brief list of guidelines for cohabitating the earth that I keep on my refrigerator, keep reminding myself of, and keep finding myself offering to friends and strangers because it is so brief, so simple, and so radical in its power to reorient one toward greater openness and love--the four Cs often heard where Sufis gather. Just four simple tasks. So easy and so difficult. To follow the first one alone, truly follow it in one's life, lifts one's spirit and redirects it immeasurably.

1. Don't complain.
2. Don't compare.
3. Don't criticize.
4. Don't condemn.

There is a reason why these are express4ed in the negative--to call our attention to them and powerfully break out proclivity toward them.

But it's interesting to think of what their positive coorelates would be. Here's one set of possibilities:

1. Give thanks for everything, walking humbly on the earth.
2. See everything as a new creation and see that it is good.
3. Act justly, toward justice, bringing greater integrity into the world around you.
4. Act in mercy and compassion toward your neighbor, who is like you.

That's my list of positive correlates, drawn of course from the prophet Micah's (6:8) summary of the law:

He has shown you, O earth creature, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

What's your short list that keeps you on track?