SOME LIFE LESSONS THEY DON'T TEACH YOU IN SCHOOL

There are just some lessons we get in school and there are also life lessons we learn along the way. Both are important.

The only problem is that life moves us far along before we finally grasp what's going on and the wisdom we hope to have gained sometimes comes late.

To spare you some of the hard knocks and trial and error, here are some life lessons to help you go along:

1. As Richard Carlson says, 'don't sweat the small stuff', and most of it is small stuff.

Much of the time we get stressed and worked up over "stuff" that in the grand scheme of things really doesn't matter. When we allow ourselves get too caught up in it we ruin our perspective and don't take time to enjoy the moment.

2. Life can be unpredictable and throw you some curves.

Just say "never" and see what happens! To avoid the jolt when life's surprises come your way, be prepared by being open-minded and maintain the positive mindset that welcomes the life lessons being presented.

3. The most boring word in any language is "I".

It's wonderful to be self-confident and self-sufficient, however, it's not all about you. There is nothing more monotonous than hearing someone talk about themselves and their accomplishments endlessly. Being self-centered is not the same as having self-confidence.

4. People are more important than things.

Relationships are more important than any material possessions you may acquire on your journey to success. Without the love and support of family and friends in life, material goods are not of much use. Setting your values and priorities can help you establish what's truly important.

5. Nobody else can make you happy.

Your happiness and state of mind are your responsibility. It's up to each of us to know what it takes to be well-balanced and happy. Our relationships enhance our lives and make them richer, but they do not "make" us happy. We do.

6. Character and integrity count.

It's important to be a person of honor. Your good word and deeds inspire trust and confidence from family, friends and associates. Be the kind of person whom you can be proud of and others are proud to know.

7. Forgive yourself, your friends and your enemies.

We are all only too human. All of us slip sometimes and make mistakes. Holding grudges and past hurts only serves to prevent us from enjoying life to the fullest.

8. A good joke can be better than any pill.

Take time to laugh each day. Humor really is a good medicine

9. There are no substitutes for exercise, eating well, fresh air and sunshine.

Never take your health for granted, or underestimate how much feeling good physically affects your moods and state of mind.

10. Persistence will eventually get you almost anything.

Never give up! Keep your goals and dreams alive! Widen your horizon.

11. Television/Computer probably ruins more minds than drugs.

Read, exercise, learn and stretch yourself. There is right time for everything.

12. It's okay to fail.

Everyone has failed at one point or another. Failure is a great life teacher. It teaches us humility and how to correct our course of action. Thomas Edison had a great attitude towards failure. He said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

13. Learn from the mistakes of others.

There's an old Zen proverb that states: "It takes a wise man to learn from his mistakes, but an even wiser man to learn from others."

14. Don't be afraid to show and tell others you love them.

Life is too short, so learn to give and receive love. Love and be loved.

15. Live so that there is only standing room at your funeral. 

Be the best spouse, parent, friend, boss, worker that you can be and leave the world a better place than you found it.

"The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson." Tom Bodett


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Shared & edited by: Swiss Wenger

Email: swisswenger09@gmail.com

URL: http://makingsenseofeverything.blogspot.com/

INSPIRING QUOTE - on KINDNESS

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." --- Leo F Buscaglia 

INSPIRING QUOTE - on LIFE

"Without humor, life is boring. Without love, life is hopeless. Without friends, life is impossible." --- Unknown

NO MATTER HOW LOUDLY WE PROTEST

        Time is the fire in which we all burn.  Every second that passes by, we grow older.  Slowly.  Irreversibly.  Inevitably.  Eventually, time would gain the upper hand.  Someday, we would all die.

        As a matter of fact, at one point of our lives, we will find ourselves on the verge of death, gasping and fighting for our dear life.  We hold on to our last breath because we are afraid to die.  There is nothing we can do then but to cry in anguish over our pathetic condition.

        Yet, death only tells us that we must live life now, in the moment --- that tomorrow is illusion and never comes.  It tells us that it is not the quantity of our days, or hours, or years that matter, but rather the quality of the time spent.  Every day is new.  Every moment is fresh.  Time has no meaning in itself unless we choose to give it significance.  Time is relative.  It is ours, given freely to spend wisely or to squander idly, but never to be hoarded.  Time past is gone and all the moaning will never bring it back.

        Death also teaches us the impermanence of all things.  All things change.  All things die.  To be attached to thing or people, both of which will surely vanish, can only bring despair, for eventually one is left with only a handful of dust or a frail memory.  Life that is free of attachment lives in the moment and makes no demand that the moment last.  Life's concern is not with the future but with the present.  To wait for life is to love to wait, nothing more.

        For some, the fear of dying may lead them to think that this earthly life is all there is.  Thus, they satisfy themselves with doing what they want without any regard for others.  However, try as they might they never seem to achieve complete happiness.  Each acquisition leads to desire for procuration.  More!  More!  More! 

 A vicious cycle, indeed.  Alas, they fail to realize the emptiness of their actions.  Only a fool would seek something infinite from the finite.

        However, try as we might not to fall prey to this perennial hunger to have more, we still commit the same mistake.  Especially in these troubled times, nothing matters to many of us except our own lives.  Our only concern is anything that will make us happy.  In our pursuit of happiness, however, we allow ourselves to fall into the snare of temptation and to be controlled by our worldly possessions believing that these are the only things we need to live.  We search for what is earthly but ephemeral, not for what is heavenly but eternal.  In the end, we cry out in desperation because despite accumulating earthly possessions, we still find our lives empty.

        After all, death teaches us that in the long run nothing belongs to us.  Even if we desire to form permanent attachments or possess, we in truth cannot.  Things will break in spite of us.  People will depart when it is their time no matter how loudly we protest.
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Written by: Swiss Wenger

Email: swisswenger09@gmail.com

URL: http://makingsenseofeverything.blogspot.com/

DARE TO LOOK?

          Unless we have totally withdrawn from the world, our life will be a window for other people.  People can see what we are about.  And it should hardly come as a surprise that others can usually see quite clearly what our values are.

          We do not live only for ourselves.  For even if we never do anything for another person, we do something to other people even when we don't realize it.

          The art of care, the act of service, the expression of compassion and the practice of active helpfulness however, is never only for another.  It is also for ourselves.  As a matter of fact, sometimes we even gain more than those we seek to help.

          In serving others we gain various satisfactions, develop particular skills and usually gain the commendation of the wider community.  At a somewhat deeper level, we gain the long-term benefits of becoming a certain kind of person through the practice of caring helpfulness.

          But these by no means exhaust all that we can gain.  Far more basically, we can gain sustenance for our very own life from our active participation in the lives of others.

          Those who live in the first world cannot long be unaware of the grinding poverty that exists in the third world.  The media however, has a way of reminding us about these conditions --- a way that probes the edges of our guilt and moves us to make our token gifts.

          Yet, we are also aware of the "Fourth World," that exists within our world: the world of permanently unemployed, the world of those with disabilities and handicap, the world of the alcoholic, drug dependent and criminals, and the world of unwed mothers whose lives of their babies are being threatened to be victims of abortion.  Here we also make our limited response by giving the extra penny over and above the welfare peso that comes out of our taxes.

          But those who inhabit the 'fourth world' are sometimes not known to us personally.  Their faces remain that of a stranger.  We only know them by the stylized image of the television, crafted to inspire pity.  They never sit at our tables.  And we have never clasped their hand in true companionship.

          Undoubtedly, we need those we are serving as much as they need us.  God speaks through the broken hearts of the handicapped, who are considered marginal and outcasts.  From them, we can learn the important lessons of joy in the midst of pain, purpose in the face of meaninglessness and hope in the midst of rejection.  For God is more frequently with those who are at the margins than with those who are at the height of ecclesiastical power.

          Hence, why is it that we keep giving dimes without daring to look into the face of the beggar?

          The answer is painfully obvious: beggars more surely invite us to inhabit their world than beckon us to fill it with good things.  There must come a time when giving is no longer enough and companionship becomes the call to integrity.

          Such companionship never means that we attempt to become the beggar, the disabled person, the drug addict or the unwed mother.  It certainly does not mean that we negate who we are or what we have.  But it does mean that we clasp the beggar's hand, break bread together and join one another in the journey towards liberation and in the promise of fullness of life.
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Written by: Swiss Wenger

Email: swisswenger09@gmail.com

URL: http://makingsenseofeverything.blogspot.com/