15 Important Life Lessons
1. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Learn to laugh at your mistakes.
2. Life is too short it to waste it on resentments, bitterness or grudges you’re holding against others.
3. You don’t have to win every argument and fight. Sometimes it’s OK to just agree to disagree.
4. Make peace with your past - then let it go, and move on.
5. Choose to go after what brings you happiness.
6. Don’t compare yourself to others.
7. It doesn’t really matter what others think about you – just live your own life and be true to who you are.
8. Life isn’t always fair – but sometimes good things happen, too!
9. Try to ignore your feelings – and keep taking the next step.
10. Ask for what you want.
11. Don’t suffer in silence – reach out for support.
12. Everything changes.
13. Be willing to experiment and try something new.
14. The most important thing is to love and be loved.
15. Believe that the best is yet to come.
How to Feel More Contented with your Life
1. Take a moment to be grateful for something. What in your life is good, or makes you happy? Even if everything seems to suck, there must be at least one good thing. Find something, and begin by being grateful for that.
2. Catch yourself thinking, “This sucks.” It’s amazing how often people think this thought. It might be in different words, but if you catch yourself going down that road, stop and try and reverse the thinking. Find a way to see something good or beneficial in the crummy situation.
3. Find the little things that bring you joy. Find the simple things that make you happy, and focus on those rather than on what is wrong, or what you don’t have.
4. Identify things about yourself that you’re actually happy with. We tend to criticize and put ourselves down. Try and break that habit by asking yourself, “What do I do right? What am I good at? Make a list, and keep adding to every day. Then, start to focus on those things rather than on the negatives.
5. Use the same approach with others in your life. Instead of attacking them, or focusing on their flaws and shortcomings, ask yourself, “What is good about this person? What do I like about them?”
“I miss the days when I thought that growing up would be the greatest thing. Innocent statements: “I’ll be able to drive. Life will be easy. I could go wherever I want. My future’s set in stone.” That all crumbled: ”School is getting harder. I failed again. I miss those days. Maybe I am an idiot. When did the world become so evil? How did this happen? Where am I going?” That all crumbled. I no longer yearn for the years of experience. I no longer desire to see what the future holds. The loss of innocence. The realization. The contempt. The world that I had envisioned so idealistically has fallen apart in my hands. I wish I were able to take it back. I wish…I wish…I wish.”
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comfort
a Thursday Theme entry
A warm blanket. A good book. An old movie. A big plate of country fried chicken and gravy. Sitting by the fire and watching the rain hit the window. Walking through the lunch room and seeing the lady making coffee and smelling her perfume and instantly thinking of Sunday school. These things bring comfort. A moment of ease. Contentment, if not happiness.
This is particularly appropriate this week as several of us are going through some extremely difficult circumstances. I wish I could make it better for you. I wish I could give you something more than words.
Comforting someone who is suffering is not easy. I suck at it, personally. Which is a difficult position to be in, as a parent. Child falls down, goes boom, I’m instantly enraged. My first reaction is not comfort, it’s anger. How did this happen? What went wrong? Did I do it? Did someone else cause this? Who can I blame/hit/chew out until I’m blue in the face?
It’s defensive. It’s selfish. It’s reactive. It’s not because I don’t care. I’m good at relaxing and having fun and playing with my kids. I’m not so good at picking them up after they fall, both literally and figuratively, and comforting them. I wish I was. My strength is probably in distraction. Hey, you’re hurt? Here’s something you love. Your doll. Some chocolate. Let’s sit on the couch and watch any show you want. Everything will be all right, you’ll see!
And it is, for a little while. But like a lot of wonderful things, it’s fleeting. It won’t last. The show ends. The ice cream melts. The fire goes out. Don’t get comfortable.
But we need those moments of ease. Put them together, they add up. The little rest stops help get you through the harder times. Your mind will take comfort in the places that you stopped, didn’t do anything, pushed your reset button. They are much better than the difficult times, the stuff you won’t care to dwell on for too long. It’s probably a defense mechanism to forget the bad and remember the good. And that brings me some comfort. Maybe not happiness, but that’s something not found in situational joys. That comes from something else, and finding it can be much harder than finding comfort.
