Things I want to remember

Resolutions? I'm terrible at making them and keeping them. I always want to exercise more, eat better, lose more weight, be a better mother/person/wife/friend/family member....blah blah blah. Not to say that I haven't improved myself in any of these areas, because I have, but the only formal resolution I ever made and kept was to recycle and that was 7 years ago and I'm proud to say that is still going strong and that even my children know they can't just throw everything out, its simply a rule and a way of life. Anyhow, instead of making resolutions set into stone that eventually turns into sand and blows away, I find it more meaningful to go through the little things I write down or copy, and keep throughout each year. Just like the recycling, I look at these to be rules and a way of life too. I love writing as much as I love to read, so here are just a few that I narrowed down and wanted to share.....

Things important to me (in no particular order):

~ Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
~ If you don't like hearing the truth (even in a nice way)about yourself or a situation....change it.
~ Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
~ Don’t believe all that you hear….or spend all you have….or sleep all that you want.
~ When you say, “I love you,” mean it.
~ When you say "I'm sorry," mean it.
~ Never laugh at someone’s dream. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.
~ Love deeply and passionately, you might get hurt but the only way to live life completely is to feel all that you can feel.
~ In disagreements, fight fairly…you know what is fair, now act like you know.
~ Don’t judge people by their relatives.
~ Talk slowly but think quickly.
~ When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, “Why do you want to know?”
~ Great love and great achievements involve great risk and that no matter the risk, it is still worth taking.
~ Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze.
~ Be the best listener that you can, if you aren’t a good listener to others, they won’t be there to listen to you when you need someone to just listen.
~ When you lose, don’t lose the lesson. Failure is not a negative word. Failure is how you learn. At the end of the day if you can’t think of anything great you did that day, think of your failures and the risks you took and you will find greatness in yourself all day.
~ NEVER tell a child that something, anything, is too hard for them to try. They can figure it out for themselves once they’ve tried.
~ Be humble.
~ For God’s sake, recycle and reuse all that you can. If this is too hard for you to do, then what is it that you consider easy to do?
~ Do nice and thoughtful things for others without them needing to know who or where the nice deed came from.
~ We are not “raising children”, we are raising our children to become adults so teach and demonstrate to your children the little life lessons that you learn, they may be more important than their fundamental basics of ABC’s and 123’s. Our future is in our children’s hands, so teach them well.
~ Know and believe that you are capable of doing a bit more than you think…probably a lot more than you think.
~ Show great respect to others, don’t just say that you respect them, show it.
~ Don’t purposely decide to look down on others. Nobody is better than the other, we just do the best that we know how to do, and when we know better we do better.
~ Each person has a lot to share and teach others, positive or negative, acknowledge it and grab it while you can. It will only make you a better person.
~ A quote right off a magnet on my fridge, I share this with people that I know will appreciate what it says:
“As you go on in this world always believe in your dreams. Keep looking forward to the future…to all you might be. Don’t let old mistakes or misfortunes hold you down. Learn something new everyday. Be interested in others and what they might teach you. Believe in yourself. So long as you are true to the strength within your own heart…you can never go wrong.”