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Picture taken by my friend Cyndi Leos....thank you Cyndi.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Lessons in Life...

Today, I was cleaning out my folders in my computer.  I found this under "Advice".
These lessons in life were written by Regina Brett, at the age of 50 years old.  She is a columnist at The Plain Dealer, in Cleveland, Ohio. She turns 54 years old this year in August, although her 45 Lessons in Life floods the Internet, reporting she is 90 years old.  She has been a single parent, a breast cancer survivor, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2009 and 2008.  Her column on these life lessons is her most popular column.
Regina said, "It turns out those personal life lessons were universal truths. They came from being a single parent and a cancer survivor, from all the wrong roads taken looking for my mission in life, from the broken road that led me straight to my husband, from strangers I interviewed, from priests I met on retreats, from my family and closest friends."
       
A quote from her book, GOD NEVER BLINKS, she wrote:  “It took me 40 years to find and hold onto happiness. I always felt that at the moment I was born, God must have blinked. He missed the occasion and never knew I had arrived. My parents had 11 children. While I love them and my five brothers and five sisters deeply, some days I felt lost in the litter... I seemed to be the runt of that litter. I ended up confused by the nuns at 6, a lost soul who drank too much at 16, an unwed mother at 21, a college graduate at 30, a single mother for 18 years, and finally, a wife at 40, married to a man who treated me like a queen."

Regina wrote the first 45 lessons after being grateful living to age 45.  At 50, she wrote five more.

Here is her list:

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.

For more on Regina Brett, see her web site here

5 comments:

betty said...

Thanks Donna! I'm not familiar with Regina Brett, but I'm going to head over to her web site after this. I liked her lessons. So very simply put, but so much wisdom in them!!

betty

Teresa said...

that is a great list! thanks for sharing it.

DJan said...

I smiled at many of them, sometimes ruefully and other times with a nod of recognition. Great list and thank you so much for adding it to my reading list. I'll go back and read it again as soon as I finish this... :-)

Southhamsdarling said...

Hi Donna. I've never heard of Regina Brett either, but I certainly liked that list that she wrote. The more I read the list, the more I realized just how true it was. Brilliant!

Betty W said...

I like Nr. 22 and 31. Very good and wise quotes.