This was in a bulletin on myspace. I have a lot to learn from it, that’s for sure!!! Enjoy!

1. Never apologize for pursuing what makes you happy. Even if you need to quit your job, transfer schools, or move across country, always do what you really want.

2. Never apologize for using proper English. Keeping it real doesn’t mean you have to speak Ebonics.

3. Never apologize for giving your best in a relationship that just didn’t work out.

4. Never apologize for being successful. Only haters want to keep you at their level.

5. Never apologize for crying. Wear waterproof mascara and express yourself.

6. Never apologize for ten pounds you need to lose. People who truly care about you will accept you as you are.

7. Never apologize for being frugal. Just because you save your money instead of blowing it on the latest fashion emergency doesn’t mean you’re cheap.

8. Never apologize for treating yourself to something special. Sometimes you have to show yourself some appreciation.

9. Never apologize for leaving an abusive relationship. Your safety should always be a priority.

10. Never apologize for setting high standards in a relationship. You know what you can tolerate and what simply gets on your nerves.

11. Never apologize for saying NO.

12. Never apologize to your new friends about old friends. There’s a reason she’s been your girl from day one.

13. Never apologize for ordering dessert or more than one dessert.

14. Never apologize for demanding respect. You are to always be treated as a queen.

15. Never apologize for not knowing how to cook. Even if you can’t burn like Grandma you know how to order good take out. (Right Girl!)

16. Never apologize for your taste in clothes. It’s your style.

17. Never apologize for changing your mind, it is your prerogative.

18. Never apologize for making a decision from your heart, even if others don’t agree. You have to live with the consequences not them.

19. Never apologize for making more money than your man, you work hard and you deserve to get paid.

20. Never apologize for being you!

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Living. Laughing. Learning. Loving.

I got this in an email from my mama and my Auntie Geri. It takes a good deal to inspire me and when I find a good one that I know will stay with me, I love to share it. So read on if you feel like being inspired. I loved it and I hope you find some peace and enlightenment in this as I did…..

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in
society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and do not change the quality of Life. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided.”

So, don’t let the cups drive you… enjoy the coffee instead.

——-I think I’ll drink my coffee in the morning with much more meaning and enlightenment. How bout you?

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Living. Laughing. Learning. Loving.

Read a blog that listed the person’s lessons in life….you know da kine? Well, here’s mine! Hopefully, my husband will do one of these lists too (hint hint ;))

Lesson 1. Money does not make the world go round. Love does! In our years together, trying to establish a good foundation for our kids, I’ve learned that when we were poorest was when we spent more on quality time since we didn’t have money to spend on other things.

Lesson 2. Common sense is all you need to make it in this world. My father always said that you can be the smartest (book-wise) and have no common sense, and you won’t make it anywhere. But, on the other hand, you can be completely ignorant in education and still make it if you have good common sense.

Lesson 3. Live honestly. If you have secrets, what about your life could possibly be real? If you are honest with yourself, you can find it in yourself to be honest with everyone else. However, if you are dishonest with others, how can you truly be honest with yourself?

Lesson 4. Be yourself! Take the qualities you admire of others and apply it to yourself. But, be you! It takes a lifetime to learn about you. Why not start now?

Lesson 5. No one can make you feel inferior, stupid, unkind, unworthy….you get the point! Own you! Own your thoughts, own your actions, own your ideals. When you take responsibility for you, all else just naturally falls into place.

Lesson 6. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Golden Rule….and rightfully so. One of the greatest accomplishments in my life is to always, and I mean ALWAYS be able to put myself in another’s shoes. It avoids me making judgement, it brings answers to my questions, and it brings peace to me despite what it may do to the other person who does not apply this rule.

Lesson 7. Kill them with kindness. This one is something my mother has instilled me and I am still learning. No matter who the person is, how badly they do you wrong, be kind. It makes you the better person and, if nothing else, makes them wonder what you could possibly be thinking!

Lesson 8. Keep your promises! Perhaps the greatest asset that a man (or woman of course) can acquire is the ability to keep his or her word. Don’t make promises you cannot keep, don’t offer help you truly aren’t able to offer, and don’t say anything you do not mean. I’ve been pretty good at this one, but still need some work.

Lesson 9. Family is important. This means husband and wife, parents and siblings, so on. When everyone else is walking out the door, these people will be the ones to be walking in to save you. Every family has its problems. In the end, family is all you’ve got!

Lesson 10. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Boy is this something I need to work on. I analayze and try to read the situation in detail and get caught up in the details when it can be something so simple. I’m slowly learning, with the help of my wonderful husband, to just brush it off my shoulders, let things happen, and not get worked up with trivial things. a good question to ask in any situation is this…. “Is this going to make a difference in my life in 5 years? 10 years? Next year even?”.

Finally, perhaps it is not a lesson and doesn’t require a number 11. It ties all of these into one simple sentence. EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON. Jun and I have both learned that even if we don’t quite understand why something horrible would happen to us right now, the time always comes when it is made clear. Sometimes, it’s as simple as there needs to be a little bad to balance out the good. Sometimes, it’s so real and tangible that the reason for something happening is because what goes around….exactly what goes around….always finds it way back around. No matter the reason, there IS a reason for every single thing that God allows to happen to you.

Hope this brought some kind of good to at least one person that reads this. If it does, then my goal here is complete. Love, I hope you do this too when you get time. I love you.

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Living. Laughing. Learning. Loving.

I was going through my emails that I have waiting for me to read, you know the ones that catch your attention but you say you’ll read it later…..  Anyways, I thought this one made a lot of sense.  Here it is…..
Don’t substitute todays certain outcome for tomorrows uncertain possibilities.

Don’t be paralyzed by over analyzing.

I heard this about PROCRASTINATION.  You may or may NOT find this interesting.
People who procrastinate decide to do nothing because you don’t know the result/outcome. FEAR is behind it. Afraid of failure?  Afraid of what the other person will think or say?  etc.
If you are a perfectionist then you might think this isn’t a good time.  But if you wait for the right time, the perfect time, when you have all the money, all the clothes, all the ‘whatever’s’ you’ll NEVER do it because there will never be a PERFECT time.

The hardest excuse is laziness.

To solve a problem you have to deal with the ROOT of the problem not the symptom. Anyone can treat a symptom, but until the root is gone, the problem stays.

Procrastination COSTS you. You miss the chance to get the job done ‘today’.  Make the most of every opportunity.

Procrastination FAKES your mind into thinking TOMORROW is better.  Not true, because that means you LOST TODAY (wasted it?)  you LOST time, it COST you time.

Procrastination can rob you of opportunities.  Can make life harder not better.  The opportunity may not knock again.

To OVERCOME this:

GET TO IT………………..self starter, priority lists help.  Put 1-6 things on list and do the first thing until it’s done.  Don’t do #2 until #1 is done and so on.  Carry the list over to the next day.  These are not urgent things, just things you want to do (visit a friend, make a call, send an email, write a letter, pay bills)  I don’t think procrastinators much like lists.  ;)))
GET WITH IT………….master your moods.  No one ever FEELS like it.  (Getting up at 4 a.m. to drive to work in rush hour traffic.)  But you do that because you know you have to or need to despite how you feel.  If we didn’t do what we felt like (flossing, exercise etc.)  we’d never do it because we tend to not feel like it.  But we do it because we know it’s right and good.  You get the point, right?!  Instead of asking yourself what do I feel like doing ask yourself:  How will I feel after I do the right thing?
GET THRU IT…………………don’t wait for time.  There is never enough time.  You MAKE the time.  (goes back to the priority list).
Welllllllllllllllll, I thought this was interesting. ;))))

Happy getting to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Living. Laughing. Learning. Loving.