The 45 Lessons Life Taught Me

I came across these fabulous words of advice this week written by a 90 year old.

(Thanks to my dear friend Hilary for sharing them.)

I think that each of us will be able to identify with them ... the trick of course is to remember them!

I recommend that you copy them and read them a least once a month.

Written  by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer,  Cleveland , Ohio .

"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  rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once  more:

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 - enjoy it..

4.  Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your  friends and family  will.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.

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.  Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in  many ways.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really  does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to be happy. But it's all 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  but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with  these words 'In five years, will  this  matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28.  Forgive but don't forget.

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. Don't take yourself so seriously. No  one else does..

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God  is, not because of anything you did or didn't  do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the  most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the  alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

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. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you  feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44.  Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's  still a gift."

www.JoAustin.com  ~ Inspiring Others to Love Life 

Consciously Creating Your Future

Success requires us to make conscious decisions that will move us closer to our goals. 

I came across this fabulous article by Deepak Chopra which explains this beautifully and am delighted to be able to share it with you.

Do you have any long term goals that you can start working on by using these principles?

Can you identify the short-term desires that have been stopping you move forward?

I look forward to reading your shares!

In everyone's life short-term desires compete with long-term desires, and whoever finds the right balance will reap the greatest success.  If you focus too much on short-term gratification, the following things become too important: eating, drinking, running errands, keeping everything neat and tidy, micro-managing others, perfectionism, gossip, and trivial distractions.  Experts in time management point out that all of these are inefficient and wasteful, which is certainly true. 

But the larger point is that none of these activities challenges your mind. They require a short attention span, and in place of long-term gratification, you are settling for tiny hits of pleasure.  A stream of short-term gratification is like eating a candy bar every half hour instead of cooking and enjoying a banquet.

Long-term desires are emotionally more mature, because they delay gratification in the service of a bigger reward.  People realize this, which is why they plan for their retirement. Years of hard work lead to a payoff down the road. But too often those years are not gratifying. They are more like putting in your time at the salt mines. The trick is to derive the right kind of short-term fulfillment.  The right kind isn't hard to define. It consists of what you do today to make next year better.

Think of it like writing a book. If you write a page every day, your manuscript will be done next year. A page doesn't sound like much, but the catch is that it must fit into the final product. Ernest Hemingway set himself a daily goal of half a page only.  If you can do anything today that consciously goes toward fulfilling a long-range vision, plan, project, or mission, you will become the Hemingway of your own life.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Set down a single vision, project, or mission.

2. Set time aside to work on it every day.

3. Work consists of doing research, making connections, investigating your target audience or market, learning from projects similar to yours, challenging your assumptions, writing a proposal, seeking a mentor, partner, or confidant to bounce your ideas off, and raising capital if needed.

4. Set interim deadlines that you can reasonably meet every month.

5. Be adaptable about changing your project as it unfolds.

Each of these steps should be interesting and, one hopes, exciting to you.  Consciousness expands whenever a person feels creative, passionate, and joyful.  If you don't have these qualities, you won’t wake up every morning eager to fulfill your long-range goal.  The value of following the five steps I've suggested is that you become action oriented; your goal doesn't drift or become an empty dream.  

To your success

Jo

www.JoAustin.com  ~ Inspiring Others to Love Life