Sunscreen
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blinded you at 4 PM on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either.
Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
Rules for Being Human:
1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it,
but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called LIFE. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like these lessons or think them irrelevant or stupid. It makes no difference, you will learn lessons.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process
of trial and error as well as experimentation. The "failed" experiments
are as much a part of the process as the experiment that "works."
4. A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be
presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When
you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life
that does not contain lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons
to learn.
6. "There" is no better than "Here". When your "There" has
become a "Here" you will simply obtain another "There" that will
again, look better than "Here".
7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You can not Love or
Hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something
you Love or Hate about yourself.
8. What you make of Life is up to you. You have all the
tools and resources that you need. What you do with them is
up to you. The choice is YOURS.
9. The answer's to life's questions lie inside of you.
All you need to is to look, listen and trust.
10. You will get what you ask for. It may not be what you wanted,
but it will be what you asked for.
UPON ENTERING THIS LEVEL OF EXISTENCE, YOU WILL FORGET ALL OF THE
ABOVE!!!
INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE
0. Eat much brown rice.
1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Memorize your favorite poem or quote.
3. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have, or sleep all you
want.
4. When you say, "I love you," mean it.
5. When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.
6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
7. Believe in love at first sight.
8. Never laugh at anyone's dreams.
9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only
way to live life completely.
10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
11. Don't judge people by their relatives.
12. Talk slowly but think quickly.
13. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile
and ask, "Why do you want to know?"
14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
15. Call your mother.
16. Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.
17. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
18. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility
for all your actions.
19. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
20. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to
correct it, and then stop worrying.
21. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your
voice.
22. Marry someone you love to talk to. As you get older, conversational
skills will be as important as any other.
23. Spend some time alone.
24. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
25. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
26. Read more books and watch less TV.
27. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you grow old and think back,
you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
28. Trust in God, but lock your car.
29. A loving atmosphere in your home is vital, so do all you can to
create harmony where you live.
30. In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation.
Don't bring up the past.
31. Read between the lines.
32. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
33. Be gentle with the earth.
34. Pray. There's immeasurable power in the Lord you pray to.
35. Never interrupt when you are being flattered.
36. Mind your own business.
37. Think twice about loving a man/woman who doesn't close his/her eyes when you kiss.
38. At least once a year, make a journey to someplace where you've never been.
39. If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. That is the greatest payoff wealth can ever give you.
40. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a blessing in disguise.
41. Learn the rules; then break some.
42. Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
43. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
44. Remember that your character determines your destiny.
45. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
People are often unreasonable,
Illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind,
People may accuse you of selfish motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful,
You will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank,
People may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building,
Someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness,
They may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today,
People will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have,
And it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you have anyway.
You see, in the final analysis,
It is between you and God;
It never was between you
and them anyway.
~Mother Teresa~
