random thoughts

I received this in an email today, and thought it was wonderful. Some of the statements I have heard before, some i have not.
(i am adding my thoughts at the end of each one...that wasnt part of the email...ha!)

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is
the ultimate anti-depressant.
(i have heard that walking is good medicine, both for the heart and the mind. i have not heard the smile while you walk part. sounds good to me. now, the hard part comes in getting out and actually doing it. i have friends that walk, run, and/or jog every morning before teaching school all day. wow. it sounds wonderful. it sounds cold, too.)

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Talk to God about
what is going on in your life. Buy a lock if you have to.
i love this! i would need that lock, though, for sure. i pray whenever i can. walking down the halls at school, while taking a shower in the mornings (hey...a few alone minutes, dont get too many of those!), while driving down the road, when i lay down at night. way back about 8 or 9 years ago, i had a blank journal book. i kept it by my bed, and would write my prayers in it every night. i wrote them more like a letter to God. it helped me so very much, because i am so scatterbrained and life keeps us so easily distracted that when my mind would wander off into the "to-do list" of tommorrow, i could easily look down at what i had written so far, get back on track, and continue in my prayer.)

3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My
purpose is to __________ today. I am thankful for______________'(i really like this too. i'll fill it in for today. my purpose is to glorify God today. i am thankful for jesus, for my family and friends and all my blessings. really, shouldnt that be our motto everyday? to glorify God in all we do, and to remember to always be thankful! i think i should print that out all nice and pretty, and hang it in our bathrooms on the mirrors, in our vehicles, and on our refridgerators.)
4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that
is manufactured in plants.
(ok, so we love bananas in our house. they grow on trees. and they are cheap, i guess. we love fruit. fresh fruit is usually expensive. we stock up on canned fruit when kroger has the kroger brands at 10 cans for $10. cant beat that.)

5, Drink green tea and plenty of water.. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan
salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts. (umm, blueberries..no thanks. yuck. salmon, yes, we love it. and broccoli, too. mark wont eat it unless its smothered in cheese, but thats ok too. green tea? we like the diet lipton green tea. the non diet version has a "wang" to it. at home we drink good ole southern sweet tea. yummy. water? i wish i drank more of it. hey, i do! tea is simply flavored water, right?)
(6. Try to make at least three people smile each day. (i agree with this. i think i accomplish this one most of the time. the days that i sub, i know i do. i try to brighten the teachers i work with day by smiling or telling some corny joke. the kids i sub for? yeah, they smile when the realize they have me as their sub. because i am awesome? sounds nice, but no. i doubt that is it. in reality its because i am generally a fun, easy going, laid back sub. i give them a chance before i "crack the whip" on them. most days, this pays off for both me and the students.)
7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues
of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead
invest your energy in the positive present moment. (i like this one too. its not as easy done as it is said, but its a great goal to strive for.)
8. Eat breakfast like a king,lunch like a prince and dinner like a
college kid with a maxed out charge card. (i think i live this one, just in reverse order. no, we dont always eat dinner (or any other meal) like a king. hardly ever. but breakfast? thats always the maxed out college kid meal. lunch? for most days, its at school. depending on what school you're at or what day it is...it can be great, or it can be good. dinner? no, that supper around here. some nights it is way nicer than others. but, yano, the more i think about it, the more i should say, it is like a kings meal. we do eat every meal, or at least have the ability to eat if we choose to. some nights are bigger and fancier than others, some nights are cereal, some are whatever, but we have them. there are many who dont. so even fruit loops are fit for a king!)
9. Life isn't fair, but it's still good. (this is true. its hard, but true)
10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. (i think this gets easier as we get older and more mature. we can hate the choices people make, the things they do, the things they say. but the bible tells us we cant hate anyone. whats the point in it anyway? if they have done something so bad to us to cause us to want to hate them, do they even care how we feel about them? nope, i seriously doubt it!)
11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
(ha! this is funny! true, i guess. yet i hope my kids and my hubby take me seriously. they better, anyway! i take them seriously!)
12. You are not so important that you have to win every argument.
Agree to disagree.
(again, i think the ability to do this comes with maturity. age? not so much, for i know adults way past the age of understanding that still dont get this.)
13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
(this is a hard one. i believe it to be a great concept, and something to strive for. i do find it to be a hard one. i cant say that i have made peace with my past, but i can say that i have chosen to do all that i can to make the most of it, to use it to help others, and hopefully glorify God in the process)
14. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their
journey is all about. (this is so very true. what looks perfect from the outside hardly ever is. and the opposite can be very true as well. our clothes may not be much, our budget is not much, our home and cars are not fancy. but we are happier as a family right now than we have ever been.)
15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
(this is a hard one too, but so very important. to choose to be happy regardless of the world crumbling down around you. yet, if you can do this, to put it all in perspective...it is so worth every ounce of effort it takes)
16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years,
will this matter?' (i have been doing this one for years now, and i can truly say it works. it is such a simple tool for prioritizing. i love it!)
17. Forgive everyone for everything.
(mom and i were just talking about this the other day. she said, "things will never be the same as they were 10 years ago. i cannot forgive and forget." i told her, the bible doesnt call us to forgive and forget. i does call us to forgive. to let go. to move on. we are not asked to forget. remembering is very useful. we remember the mistakes of our past so as to (hopefully) not repeat them. yet we forgive ourselves and others so we can move on, to let it go, and focus on doing better.)
18. What other people think of you is none of your business. (a slap in the face here. i must admit this one is very hard. i want to know what people think of me. i want to know why they think it. and if its not good, i want to change it. is that so wrong? probably not. but what most likely is wrong, is to let that curiosity control me. if i go around each day trying to please others, to do what i think will make them think highly of me...then who am i serving? not God. not myself. not my family.)
19. GOD heals everything - but you have to ask Him.
(AMEN)
20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. (thats so very true. i want to show this to all the skinny people. i was once a "skinny girl". thought i would never wear a one-peice, never have fat on my back, etc. yet here i am. bigger than i have ever been, but more loved and more in love than i have ever been. closer to God than i have ever been.)
21. Your job won't take care of you when you are in need. Your friends
will. Stay in touch!!! (this is so very true too. i tell people all the time, its your family and friends that will be there, not your job.)
22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
(well, yes envy is a waste of time. i agree. and all you need? food, clothing, love, shelter, and God. then you've got it covered.)
23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:
I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.
(i like this too. i will try to do this tonight)
24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
(this is true, but it seems so cliche now. you see it on signs, on bumper stickers, etc. its not that i dont agree with it, but to me, it almost makes me feel like if i am stressed then i am not blessed. i am blessed. i am also an easily stressed person. maybe this one steps on my toes? i dont know. i want one that says, i am stressed, but i am blessed enough to know that i will make it through this stress and the next one and the next one and the next one.....)
25. When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings.
You'll be smiling before you know it.
(amen!)