33 Ways to Have More Peace in Your Life

I was up in my parents’ attic the other day and found a few things I’d long since forgotten. One of the items I came upon was my high school lacrosse shirt. My number was 33 and I wore it proudly. Remembering back to why I originally chose this number, a few things come to mind. One I can’t reveal as I am forever sworn to secrecy (Cary Fridley-are you out there?) and the others have to do with role models, beer and mathematics.

There were my sports idols: Eddie Murray, first basemen for the Orioles and the Boston Celtics' Larry Bird: one of the best clutch performers in the history of sports; and Rolling Rock-one of my first favorite beers probably because printed on every bottle is the number #33 (The 21st Amendment abolished Prohibition in the USA on 5 December 1933, the perfect temperature to consume beer is 33 degrees and most beer is brewed at 33 degrees).

Being captivated with mathematics and problem solving, the number 33 fascinated me in more ways than I can describe. For example: The number n is deficient if the sum of all its positive divisors except itself is less than n. Thirty-three is deficient. The number n is evil if it has an even number of 1's in its binary expansion. To build the lucky number sequence, start with natural numbers. Delete every second number, leaving 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, ... . The second number remaining is 3, so delete every third number, leaving 1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 19, 21, ... . The next number remaining is 7, so delete every 7th number, leaving 1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 21, ... . The next number remaining is 9, so delete every ninth number, etc. Those numbers were lucky if they weren't crossed out. A palindrome is a number that reads the same forward or backward. A number is said to be square-free if its prime decomposition contains no repeated factors. Thirty-three is evil, lucky, a palindrome and square-free. Perhaps not of interest to many, but it kept me busy through many years of dreary arithmetic classes.

So what does the number thirty-three have to do with today? I got my new numbers for the wait list. I am number three on the girl’s list and number three on the sibling list. What came to mind as soon as I heard that? Thirty-three!

I hope my child has the opportunity play sports and be on a team that gives her a sense of success by cooperation. Maybe one day she will choose a number of significance in her life (hopefully not linked to beer). Perhaps she will find comfort in learning by making sense in chaos. Or maybe she will just find peace in the ordinary and become her own version of extraordinary.

Here’s to Eddie, here’s to Larry and here’s to the folks in Latrobe. And, here’s to my little one who is probably already out there with no idea that the protection of number 33 is reigning over her.


33 Ways to Have More Peace in Your Life by Joseph Bernard

• Slow down and let your body come to rest once in a while
• Let you inner critic go and instead talk nice to yourself
• Listen to you heart and love more freely
• Pay attention to your feelings, make sure you are doing ok
• Spend time in the calmness of nature
• Take a nap and dream about being peaceful
• Pay attention to your intuition and act accordingly
• Be more playful, do more fun things and laugh often
• Have art days and express yourself creatively
• Read about being peaceful, Thich Nhat Hahn is great
• Sing songs that uplift you
• Check out the dances for universal peace in your community
• Go for quiet and relaxing walks
• Listen to the birds sing, the sounds of a stream or the wind
• Feel gratitude for all you have and for each moment
• Expand your breathing and feel how alive you are
• See the beauty of the world around you
• Finish unfinished stuff that is bothering you
• Have friends that really listen, be a friend and listen too
• Change beliefs that limit you or make you feel guilty
• Stop watching nightly news, do something healthy instead
• Notice where fear runs you and change your thinking
• Be kind to yourself and love and accept who you are
• Do what feels right, say no to what doesn’t
• Follow your own truth and live by your values
• Enjoy your uniqueness and express who you are
• Have a purpose in life and live it with passion
• Only make commitments you can honor and follow through on
• Focus on the positive and expect good things to happen
• Stop blaming, take responsibility for creating your life
• Explore what interests you and be a life long learner
• Wake up and see yourself having a wonderful day
• Find the peaceful place inside and visit often

© Joseph Bernard