Some days it really hits me…life is happening so fast! Maybe it’s because I remember things now by recalling the decade of my life in which they happened, but I am often supremely surprised at just how fast I went from 2o something to 50 something.  That’s three decades!

As I live the next three decades, I want to remember the lessons I have learned up to now because each day offers both wonderful opportunities and enormous challenges; often while wearing the same clothes! I want to be open to the opportunities and ready for the challenges. Remembering the seventeen things on the list below will surely help. After you read my list, please share things that you have learned and hope to always remember.

#1  No one can make us happy or give us peace of mind; those things come from deep within us.

If we’re looking to find happiness outside ourselves, we’re in for trouble.

#2  The way we treat others says more about us than it does about them.

Show me someone who treats others with respect and I will show you someone who respects themselves…and vice versa.

#3  No one is inferior to anyone.

We’re different from each other, that’s for sure and that’s wonderful, but everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Everyone.

#4  We always have the power to choose how we respond to the things that happen in our lives.

Even when bad, disastrous, or unfair things happen to us, we can always choose how we respond. We are never without that power and in that power lies the strength to turn bad situations into our own personal triumphs. 

#5  We cannot change any part of the past.

Instead of wallowing in guilt or self-pity over the past, we can choose to open ourselves up to the lessons to be learned, and allow these experiences to make us more complete and compassionate people.

#6  Each decision we make will either move us closer to, or take us further away from, our ideal life.

If we’re not careful we can putter through life on auto-pilot and then end up with a life we don’t absolutely love. Instead, we need to wake up and notice how we are ordering our days.

#7  Before we say something about someone, we need to make sure we are willing to say that same thing to their face.

Gossiping is hurtful.  If you won’t say it to them, don’t say it about them.

#8  We have the life we have right now because of the life we have lived up to now.

Gentle reminder of number 6…we are creating our lives one decision at a time.

#9  We are the person we care enough to be.

Giving lip service to who we want to be is not the same as caring enough to figure out what our ideal self looks like and then order our days so that we become that person.

#10  We are all teachers.

Life’s lessons come to us from some unlikely sources at times, and each of us carries lessons learned that others need.  We never know when we are giving a lesson.

#11  Being forgiving means being free.

If we hold onto the pain of anger and seek retribution for wrongs done to us, we are living in a bondage of our own making. Forgiving doesn’t mean that we condone the act in question, it just means we can become free from it.

#12  Hating anything steals our joy.

Hate requires intense feelings and is negative through and through. Save those intense feelings for love and let it flow.

#13  Negative thoughts create a negative life.

Our life is a reflection of our thoughts.

#14  Positive thoughts create a positive life.

Our life is a reflection of our thoughts.

#15  The way we do anything is the way we do everything.

We are rhythmic creatures of habit.  How we do the smallest of things indicates how we do the big stuff.

#16  When we give our very best to something, that is enough.

We know from a place deep inside ourselves when we have given our best to something, when there is absolutely nothing more we can do. When we have that deep knowing, we’ve done enough.

#17  Life is something to value and wasting time means we’re wasting our treasure.

At the end of our days here on earth, wouldn’t it be nice to have no regrets? Living each day fully and with purpose is proof that we value this treasure we all share: this wonderful treasure called LIFE.  Let’s LIVE it!

What would you add to this list?

We are creating our lives…one decision at a time.

I welcome your comments and invite you to share this post with others.  And if you really want to stay in touch, subscribe to best I have in the upper right corner. Thanks for being here.

Article originally posted in Nov, 2010, revised and re-posted in June, 2011.