Thursday, 27 AUG 2015 :: words of wisdom

In sorting all my files yesterday, I discovered some worth printing for my paper files.  I have been debating with myself about sharing one of them.  I found it on a Facebook post from one of my cousins.  My notes say I discovered it on the 2nd of February this year.

It turns out the writing is still posted, and some of the details are different from my Facebook copy.  Mine says the author (same name and paper) turned 90 --  I didn't think she would still be alive.  When I found the writing online, it stated the author was turning 50, that the original publication was in 2006, and that it was updated in 2008.

My version only has 42 statements... I have to compare the two lists to find out which ones are missing from my version.  Because of the differences, I decided to share the entire online version here.  I have linked it to the page I discovered in a search process at my title (Lessons From Life), and provided the entire web address under the author's name.  I will make the ones I like best in BOLD text.


LESSONS FROM LIFE

Regina Brett's 45 life lessons and 5 to grow on

By Regina Brett, The Plain Dealer on May 28, 2006 at 10:13 AM, updated April 03, 2008 at 10:17 AM
http://www.cleveland.com/brett/blog/index.ssf/2006/05/regina_bretts_45_life_lessons.html, 27 AUG 2015


To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.
It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here's an update:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don't ask, you don't get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

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As a senior now, age and wisdom are becoming a topic I think about a lot more than I did when I was young.  I have decided that wisdom is selective... we know what we have lived, but not what others have learned through their own life experience.  That  is why GOD tells us to turn around and help those that suffer what we have suffered and recovered from.

It is hard to see people doing things you know are going to lead to problems, and hard to say anything to them.

I tried to find that quote about asking a teen while they know everything, but couldn't locate it with a simple (fast) search.  I wanted to share it with the comment that it often seems like we are all still that teenager.

I have been trying to gather my days and get some of this wisdom I want to pass on into a book form, something I should have tried to do when I was much younger.  Life would have been different...  I wonder how much our lives would be changed if I had succeeded earlier in my life.

We never know the impact of our everyday interactions.  Sometimes we meet someone in a passing moment and what happens affects the rest of our lives.  It is a wonder.  It is how the work of GOD happens.

I hope you print this post and share it with others you know who are rising in years.  Maybe they can add to it. 

That would be a great online effort... find a way that everyone can add their statement about life... one statement per person... maybe a Twitter page would work... 140 character would make us all condense our life into one short statement.  A decent person would have to moderate the entries because too many people like to share things we don't really want to know, or read, or be forced to remember.

Enjoy your weekend... remember GOD and thank Him for all the goodness in your life.