55 Life Lessons

I read Maria Shriver’s 60 best life lessons in honor of her turning 60. So, I thought in honor of me turning 55 - I will write my own life lessons. 55 of ‘em.

1. Knowledge is Power. Learn from everything. Not just from books. Listen to others. Observe others and nature.
2. Your education is something that no one and nothing can take away from you. Once you get that education it is yours for keeps.
3. Be grateful for who you are. Appreciate yourself.
4. Don’t take anything for granted. Not walking, talking, seeing, hearing, loving, or others. You never know when it may be gone.
5. Love your family. They may be from a nut tree, but they are from the same tree as you are from.
6. Some of your family you may not like, but love them anyway. You may not like this, but they will be there for you.
7. Love your friends. Some friends are there for certain periods of your life. Some are there for a lifetime. Love them all. Cherish them. “Make new friends, but keep the old, some are silver and some are gold.” “Hello” is a powerful word. You will never make new friends, get married, get a job without using it. Think about it.
8. Don’t be afraid to follow your dreams. Don’t let anyone talk you out of them.
9. Make your own decisions. But learn from those decisions. Some would be good decisions, some would be bad decisions, learn from all of them.
10. Not everything is going to go according to plan. You may have a shi**y and cra**y day. That’s ok. Learn from it. Think about it.
11. And “Let it go!”
    “Let it go!”
    Let go of all past wrongs. Let go of all past hurts. Let go of all past pains. Move on! Move forward! Live!
12. Live! Love! Laugh!
13. Remember “A dream is a wish your heart makes.”
14. Watch Disney-Learn the lessons.
15. Watch romantic comedies. Laugh.
16. Keep the holidays in your heart. Always give things away to those in need. Throw things out!
17. PRAY. PRAY. PRAY.
    PUSH- Pray Until Something Happens
18. FROG- Fully Rely on God
19. ASAP- Always Say A Prayer
20. Keep your faith. Pray. Believe in God. Remember he always answers prayers. Sometimes the answer is no. He answers in his own time.
21. Do what you are passionate about. If you are passionate about your work, it will not feel like work.
22. Kindness - treat all people with kindness. Everyone. Everyone deserves a little kindness.
23. Character-Look for the character in everyone. LOOKS can change. You can lose/gain weight; you can lose your hair, your teeth, you can become paralyze, but character, the inside, that is substance.
24. Strength-Rely on your inner strength. You will need it. Remember today may be yucky. The pits. But carry your strength with you and tomorrow the day will be better and put enough days between you and the days that are yucky, and all the days will be better.
25. Remember the good days! And like #11-LET GO OF THE BAD DAYS!
26. Be the change you want to be in the world. ~Nelson Mandla
    (He had good ideas and teaching-you can make a change.)
27. Live your best life.
28. Remember you are loved. By someone. By me. ALWAYS!
29. Courage-Have courage to face each day. To do what is right and walk your own path.
30. Take care of yourself. Your health-eat right. Exercise.
31. Simple things-cherish them.
32. DON’T EVER THROW AWAY ANIMALS - to them you are their world.
33. Elderly-don’t throw away the elderly. They have earned a privilege that few of us have. They have grown old. Listen to them. Learn from them. When I was a senior in High School-I did a research paper “4 Generations Past”. It was about me, my Mom, my Grandmother, and my Great-Grandmother. I verbally interviewed them. And the priest. And I researched through encyclopedias. I wrote about typical days, going to school, church, life. I got a 99 on that paper. I always say it was 98 points for admitting I was Polish and 1 point for the paper.
34. Learn from everything. Nature. Others.
35. Don’t be prejudice. Just because some people of a race, religion, culture are bad, doesn’t mean all people are. Judge the person not the race, religion, or culture.
36. Learn from nature. Please don’t give up on family. I pray that you will forgive.
37. Love with your heart.
38. Read Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. It is good for your professional and personal life.
    1. Be proactive.
    2. Begin with the end in mind.
    3. Put first things first.
    4. Think Win-Win.
    5. Seek first to understand and then to be understood.
    6. Synergize
    7. Sharpen the saw.
39. Paradigm. Paradigm Shift. That is hard. That is when you have to change your beliefs-but sometimes for the better. Sometimes to live in harmony.
40. NEVER STOP LEARNING! Learn something new every day. It doesn’t have to be from books-it can be by listening to others, observing, reading.
41. Love - (see #37 and worth repeating) Love with your whole heart. Your whole heart.
42. Remember - don’t do drugs. They cannot help you.
43. Follow your dreams, your heart. (See #8.)
44. I will always be here for you. Always. As long as I am living my baby you will be.
45. Life changes. Every second. You can blink and something can happen. You know that we both have our autoimmune disease. You have yours and I have mine.
46. We are both better than the autoimmune disease.
47. And, thank you. You are the wind beneath my wings. Be someone’s wind beneath their wings.
48. Don’t give up. Sometimes you may want to-but push on. Move on. (See #10.)
49. Time is precious. When someone gives you their time-APPRECIATE IT! It is something that can never be taken back. The gift of time. Time to listen. To sit and do nothing. Take time for yourself! (See #30.)
50. Give from your heart. The best gifts are from the heart. They may be homemade. They may be gifts of time.
51. Write and read some every day.
52. Eat chocolate.
53. I said this earlier, but I am going to say it again-family. Love your family. They will be there. (See #5.)
54. Spread your wings and fly away. But remember the way back home.
55. I love you. Period.

Completed 11-28-2015 at 2:26 PM.
My birthday is December 30.

Lisa D. Graham