45 Lessons Life Taught Me

45 Lessons Life Taught Me

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

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. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and
parents will. Stay in touch.

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. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

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

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 but 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. 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. You already have all 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."

--
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like no one is watching.

You may be living in Canada

Forget Rednecks, Here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about Canucks.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from
September through May,
You may be living in Canada .


If someone in a Home Depot store
Offers you assistance and they don't work there,
You may be living in Canada .

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
You may be living in Canada .

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation
With someone who dialed a wrong number,
You may be living in Canada .

If 'Vacation' means going anywhere
South of Detroit for the weekend,
You may be living in Canada .

If you measure distance in hours,
You may be living in Canada .

If you know several people
Who have hit a deer more than once,
You may be living in Canada .

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C'
In the same day and back again,
You may be living in Canada .

If you can drive 90 km/hr through 2 feet of snow
During a raging blizzard without flinching,
You may be living in Canada .

If you install security lights on your house and garage,
But leave both unlocked,
You may be living in Canada .

If you carry jumper cables in your car
And your wife knows how to use them,
You may be living in Canada .

If you design your kid's Halloween costume
To fit over a snowsuit,
You may be living in Canada .

If the speed limit on the highway is 80 km --
You're going 90 and everybody is passing you,
You may be living in Canada .

If driving is better in the winter
Because the potholes are filled with snow,
You may be living in Canada .

If you know all 4 seasons:
Almost winter, winter, still winter,
And road construction,
You may be living in Canada .

If you have more miles
On your snow blower than your car,
You may be living in Canada .


If you find 2 degrees 'a little chilly',
You may be living in Canada .


If you actually understand these jokes,
And forward them to all
Your Canadian friends & others,
You definitely live in Canada .

Give support meant for the poor to the poor

I just had a thought today when I learned that RGI housing often has a waiting list of 8 years or longer what the leader of the NDP party, Jack Layton (and he's not the only higher income person that was taking advange of the the RGI housing system) was doing with his high income living in RGI housing? Was he "slumming it" to prove that he is willing to live among the commoners? Did he ever think that he may have taken the type of housing that would have made the difference between a family eating and not eating? If someone's housing takes up 90% of their income they may often be faced with eating or paying the rent but if it was 30% of their income then they could eat. Wasn't it nice of this guy to put some poor family in this position! Eat or pay the rent. Thanks fearless leader! He may say he's for the people but he wasn't for the one family that may have been faced with that choice. There is a cap on how much people pay in rent for this housing with no time limit on how long they live there under that rent.
Further thought.
The Social welfare system. A person is on welfare and makes a miniscule amount of money and if they get a part time job but are still underemployed they can stay on welfare for 6 months with 50% of the income from their underemployed income being taken away from them. After 6 months they are cut off.
My question is why is that someone can take advantage of the low cost housing indefinitely instead of say after 6 months of paying the maximum rent allowed for the rental unit they are in they should either move out and let someone that needs the unit because they are living in poverty move in or start paying 30% of their income even if they are making a million dollars a year... This money could build more units or improve existing units or it would force these people that don't need the RGI housing to move out. The system as it currently is only favours the rich. There should be changes made so that everyone can have better living conditions or at least so that rich people can't abuse the system. For poor people - the system is always policing every penny they make so that they can't take advantage of the system. It's just a thought about fairness and justice for all.

Don't get me wrong. Of all the leaders in the government I think Jack Layton is one of the best candidates for people living in poverty or on the fringe of poverty. I just feel that more can be done to give poor people a chance to break out of the chains of poverty and one of the ways is to make it easier for them to get access to things like RGI housing, affordable education and so many other things that are so hard to access now because they are in such limited supply and maybe there are ways to make it even a little easier to get access to these important elements to get out of the ghettos of poverty.

Ethics and Justice

Some days when I look at the world and see the way people harm each other and everyone has so many double standards and harms everyone else I am amazed that they don't recognize just how wrong their behaviour is. The irony of it is it's not usually the people that you would expect to be that way. For example, if you see a person living in abject poverty stealing you can kind of understand it. It's not right but at least you can understand it easier than someone that's very rich doing the same thing. Cruelty, you'd asume people that aren't educated to know harming others and animals to understand how wrong it is but the worst cruelties often come from those who should know better. Ethics and standing up for what you believe in isn't a case of what your socioeconomic background is, it's who you are inside. If you care and are sensitive to others and have a general sense of fairness that will be there whether you are a person living on the street or someone that is running a country and I don't think that enough people in this world stand behind their beliefs. It seems to be a dog eat dog world out there and it really makes me sad. It makes me think that I want to be the best person that I can be and if no one else follows that then though I should try not to judge I should at least attempt to keep on my own path.

President Obama finally the US has a great president

President Obama finally the US has a great president

I think the President Obama is so amazing and a smart, down to earth man. He is open minded and has so many great ideas that if his countrymen have any sense and don't listen to those bone heads that have agendas that only benifit the wealthy he will create a country to be even more proud of. His work towards peace and affordable health care for all is very wise. He also has a simple class that has been missing since John F. Kennedy. It's taken awhile but you yankies have a great leader - hold on to him. Keep up the good work President Obama!

Windmills and Solar Energy

I've always thought that solar and wind energy is the way to go because you can generate your own electricity wherever. I have been speaking to a friend in Illinois about how great it is and he spoke to a friend... His friend really thought it's a great concept but was unsure if there was any reasonably priced windmills that he could set up in Illinois. I thought I'd put this in my blog in case someone in Illinois ever reads this and could contact me. I also thought perhaps if I keyed in the correct words the answer might appear in the ads that often match up with what I write. I thought it's worth a try. Meanwhile if anyone does know of a reasonably price company that provides wind and Solar energy devices please let me know. Thanks.

Did my exam for my medical terminology course today!

I did my exam for my medical terminology today. It was quite challenging but I think I did ok on it. Next course OHIP billing on September 11, through George Brown College. But this evening I'm going to just going for a nice brisk calming walk when it cools then relax for the rest of the evening. It feels really good to have finished the course and going to move on to the next one. Taking courses one at a time is slow going but it's still progress and not as overwhelming as full time school would be.

I just saw a momma robin teaching baby to fly

I always get a thrill when I witness babies learning things for the first time. In this case it was a momma robin flying a short distance and her baby followed her. They landed on the garage roof and rested for a short time and she flew a little more and the baby followed. They were soon out of my view but it was nice to see it even for a few moments.

I had a Garage sale today

I did a garage sale today. I almost gave the stuff away but got rid of quite a bit of stuff. My painting sold really well but I couldn't paint them at the price I sold them at. I got a bit more room in my apartment though. It was feeling like a sardine can since I closed my art studio in December and moved most of the stuff from it back to my apartment.
Overall it was an ok day.

Still need to work on the foal some more

After looking at it a couple of days I'm still not happy with it so I'm going to do some more work on it.

Finished I think

I removed the tufts of ear hair that was overlapping the board above her. I think that fixed it.

A couple of adjustments

I did a couple of adjustments by trying to reduce a bit of the focus from his oversized halter and darkened the fence above him.

Struggling with a drawing of a foal

Argh

This little filly was so cute with her halter being a bit too big for her and she was peeping under the fence but I can't seem to get it right.

Horse Rescue Ontario

I've been working on updating and repairing http://www.horserescueontario.org/ website. I've found the owner of the rescue Debbi and absolute delight and I'm trying to figure out a way to get to the rescue to physically help out. They've rescued over 140 horses and that may not seem a lot to most people but I'm sure it means a lot to those 140 horses! Please check out the site and let me know what you think. Bare in mind though that I'm still working on it and it has a way to be finished yet.
Thanks Cindy

Horses

There is a magic that only horses can bring to those who spend time the time with them. All your your daily concerns slip away and all that's there is you and this beautiful creature.
Each time you spend with a horse your confidence increases in handling them and your fears disipate.

I am Lucinda Knowlton and my most important things in life are Horses and Art.