The 10 Most Important Life Lessons I've Learned (So Far)

Here are the 10 most important life lessons I've learned so far (and I'm still learning).

1. Don't give your word unless you can keep it. When you have to break your word, tell them before they can tell you. Being honest and up front shows your integrity.
2. Love without reserve. Preserve the relationships you cherish. When you really care about someone, choosing to preserve the relationship rather than winning every argument, shows how much you really care. Be willing to be vulnerable. It doesn't mean you're weak. It means you know how to love. Your willingness to love and be vulnerable should always be stronger than your pride.
3.  Your job as a parent is the most important job you'll ever have. You're helping to form a life. Don't assume that teachers, peers or family members can do your teaching and loving for you. Your goal as a parent should be to prepare your children for life without you. Don't cripple them by over- or under-parenting.
4.  Never date a married man. Unless he's your husband. Then date him as often as you can! If you happen to fall in love with a married man, walk away. Preserve his marriage and your good character.
5. Take care of the body you have. It's the only one you'll get. Even when it's bigger or smaller than you prefer, love your body like it's a gift. That not only shows your confidence, it's very attractive to the opposite sex. Men may think they have a physical type, but a woman confident about her body and comfortable in her own skin, regardless of size, is attractive to most men.
6. Be the team. Relationships are all about knowing and believing you're part of a team. You two have to have each other's back. No one should be allowed to get in between you. Never speak ill of your mate to other people. It only makes you look bad.
7. Learn to apologize with no excuses. A simple, "I am so sorry" goes a long way. Recognize that when you're really sorry, you don't do it again.
8. Learn to rebound quickly. We all make mistakes. It's a part of life. If you screw up, and you will, pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. Repent or apologize if you have to. Then start all over again. How long it takes you to rebound shows your resilience.
9. Do what's right rather than what's easy. Rest assured, sometimes easy is right, but not often. What's right is rarely about the right now. Have vision and think past the right now.
10. Live in and appreciate the present. Don't wish for what will be or long for what was - at least not to the point where you can't appreciate the gift of now. Savor every experience, every relationship, every job, while you have it. It will end at some point. Living in the present shows your ability to be content.

Constantly Thinking...

No Regrets

I was talking to a friend recently about giving people the benefit of the doubt, especially our significant others.

When you're in a relationship, you both have to believe "we're the team." When anything challenging happens, you have to start from a place of "how was he/she trying to protect me or us?" If you start from the other direction, "I know he/she was trying to hurt or harm me!" then you have a much bigger issue.

I will admit, I am a very trusting person. I give people the benefit of the doubt, sometimes long after the doubt should be gone and there should be no benefit.

But you know what? I don't regret the trust I've given in the past, even when it was ill-placed.

I have absolutely no regrets about believing who people said they were, even when I found out later that they were lying. I don't regret erring on the side of giving people the benefit of the doubt. I don't regret my trusting heart.

Shame on them for being a cad or a faker.

I'm much more careful about who I share my heart with now but not because I've stopped trusting. I just have more wisdom and discernment.
Once I do hand over my heart, it loves and trusts with every fiber of its being...with no regrets!

Constantly Thinking...and trusting.