Get dirty. Get involved with anything that will soil your hands and/or clothes. Garden, change the chain on your bicycle, or feed a two-year-old. Go to the beach, lie near the water, and cover yourself head to toe with sand, or visit a kiddie park and play in the sandbox.

Make every effort to get dirt on yourself. The point here is to get dirty, not avoid getting dirty. Wear some old clothes that you don't care about and wallow in mud. Strip and paint an old table, change the oil in your car, or clean out the attic. Look around and select the dirtiest job you can think of, then get into it.

When you finish, clean yourself off lovingly and carefully. Wash your body from head to toe, clean or polish your fingernails, and look with pride at the job you've just completed.

Alan Epstein in How to Be Happier Day by Day