"Long afterward, she was to remember that moment when her life changed its direction. It was not predestined; she had a choice. Or it seemed she had. To accept or refuse. To take one turning down the crosswords to the future or another."
Evelyn Anthony
1) Operate with loving intentions and pure motives. Always. Doing something solely for applause, appreciation, or accolades hardly ever turns out well. People can smell insincerity a million miles way. Likewise, when we do anything from places of either reluctant obligation or straight-up manipulation, disaster typically ensues. You can rarely go wrong with being genuine and generous.
2) Be selective with your secret sharing. Not everyone deserves to hear our hurts and heartbreaks. People have to earn the right to know the hard, sad, and scary things. Over-sharing with the wrong ones just leads to shame, regret, and a big old vulnerability hangover. And, the same is true for divulging our biggest dreams, bravest aspirations, and most brilliant ideas. In both cases, safe landing spaces are sacred.
3) YOU are forever and categorically your first priority. If you’re not adequately nourished, rested, centred, healthy, hydrated, strong, and sane, you’re doing a mammoth disservice to the people in your life who rely on you for love, guidance, and support.
4) Remember you’re just not that important. Of course you're an infinitely worthy being deserving of every beautiful and glorious thing that life has to offer, but our egos have tricky ways of distorting our significance. On the one hand, we take things far too personally in situations that have next to nothing to do with us. On the other, we can tend to get all precious and think we are irreplaceable. As a result, we stay in places and resign to circumstances that make us totally miserable.
5) Don’t spend time with jerks. Jerks keep us small and dark and fearful. You simply can't make space (or excuses!) for anyone who dulls your shine or dims your spirit. When we dedicate hours and energy to those who constantly disappoint, wound, or frustrate us, we seriously undermine the levels of devotion and attention that should be wholly reserved for those in our lives who truly deserve it.
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up - that we begin to live each day to the fullest, as it was the only one we had."
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
-----