"Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you." --- Winston Churchill

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	50 Life Lessons   50 Lecciones de la Vida     by Regina Brett, Columnist, "The Plain Dealer", Cleveland, Ohio 1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good. 2. When in doubt, just take the next small step. 3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. 4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does. 5. Pay off your credit cards every month. 6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree. 7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone. 8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it. 9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck. 10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile. 11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present. 12. It's OK to let your children see you cry. 13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about. 14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it. 15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks. 16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying. 17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today. 18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write. 19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else. 20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer. 21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special. 22. Overprepare, then go with the flow. 23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple. 24. The most important sex organ is the brain. 25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you. 26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?" 27. Always choose life. 28. Forgive everyone everything. 29. What other people think of you is none of your business. 30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time. 31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. 32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch. 33. Believe in miracles. 34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do. 35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger. 36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young. 37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable. 38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion. 39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere. 40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back. 41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now. 42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful. 43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved. 44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need. 45. The best is yet to come. 46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. 47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind. 48. If you don't ask, you don't get. 49. Yield. 50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift. 1. La vida no es justa, pero aún así es buena. 2. Cuando tengas duda, sólo toma el siguiente paso pequeño. 3. La vida es demasiada corta para perder el tiempo odiando a alguien. 4. Tu trabajo no te cuidará cuando estés enfermo. Tus amigos y familia sí. Manténte en contacto. 5. Liquida tus tarjetas de crédito cada mes. 6. No tienes que ganar cada discusión. Debes estar de acuerdo en no estar de acuerdo. 7. Llora con alguien. Alivia más que llorar solo. 8. Está bien si te enojas con Dios. El lo puede soportar. 9. Ahorra para el retiro comenzando con tu primer cheque de nómina. 10. Cuando se trata de chocolate, la resistencia es inútil. 11. Haz las paces con tu pasado para que no arruine el presente. 12. Está bien permitir que tus niños te vean llorar. 13. No compares tu vida con otros. No tienes ni idea de lo que se trata su travesía. 14. Si una relación tiene que ser secreta, no debes estar en ella. 15. Todo puede cambiar en un parpadear de ojos. Pero no te preocupes, Dios nunca parpadea. 16. Respira profundamente. Esto calma la mente. 17. Elimina todo lo que no sea útil, hermoso o gozoso.   18. Si algo no te mata, en realidad te hace más fuerte.   19. Nunca es demasiado tarde para tener una niñez feliz. Pero la segunda depende de tí y de nadie más. 20. Cuando se trata de perseguir aquello que amas en la vida, no aceptes un ” no” por respuesta.   21. Enciende las velas, utiliza las sábanas bonitas, ponte la lencería cara. No la guardes para una ocasión especial. Hoy es especial.   22. Preparate de más, y depués sigue la corriente.   23. Sé excéntrico ahora. No te esperes a ser viejo para usar el morado.   24. El órgano sexual más importante es el cerebro. 25. Nadie está a cargo de tu felicidad, más que tú. 26. Enmarca todo llamado “desastre” con estas palabras: “En cinco años, ¿esto importará?” 27. Siempre elige vida. 28. Perdonale todo a todos. 29. Lo que las otras personas piensen de ti no te incumbe. 30. El tiempo sana casi todo. Dale tiempo al tiempo. 31. Por más buena o mala que sea una situación, algún día cambiará.   32. Su trabajo no se hará cargo de usted cuando usted está enfermo. Tus amigos si. Manténgase en contacto.   33. Cree en los milagros. 34. Dios te ama por lo que Dios es, no por lo que hayas hecho o dejado de hacer.   35. Lo que no te mata realmente te hace  fuerte. 36. Llegar a viejo es mejor que la alternativa— morir joven. 37. Tus niños sólo tienen una niñez. Asegurete que es una buena memoria.   38. Lee los salmos. Cubren todas las emociones humanas.   39. Sal todos los días. Los milagros están esperando en todas partes. 40. Si todos apilaramos nuestros problemas y vieramos los montones de los demás, rápido arrebataríamos de regreso los nuestros.   41. No audites la vida. Sólo llega y aprovéchala al máximo hoy. d of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.   42. Deshágase de todo lo que no es útil, hermoso o alegre.   43. Todo lo que verdaderamente importa al final es que hayas amado.   44. La envidia es una pérdida de tiempo. Tú ya tienes todo lo que necesitas.   45. Lo mejor está aún por llegar. 46. No importa cómo te sientas… párate, arréglate y preséntate.   47. Tome una respiración profunda. Se calma la mente.   48. Si usted no pide, no recibe. 49. Cede. 50. La vida no está envuelta con un moño, pero sigue siendo un regalo.

	SYMPATHY: When Grieving Over The Death Of a Best Friend I'm old. What that means is that I've survived (so far) and a lot of people I've known and loved did not. I've lost friends, best friends, acquaintances, co-workers, grandparents, mom, relatives, teachers, mentors, students, neighbors, and a host of other folks. I have no children, and I can't imagine the pain it must be to lose a child. But here's my two cents... I wish I could say you get used to people dying. But I never did. I don't want to. It tears a hole through me whenever somebody I love dies, no matter the circumstances. But I don't want it to "not matter". I don't want it to be something that just passes. My scars are a testament to the love and the relationship that I had for and with that person. And if the scar is deep, so was the love. So be it. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are a testament that I can love deeply and live deeply and be cut, or even gouged, and that I can heal and continue to live and continue to love. And the scar tissue is stronger than the original flesh ever was. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are only ugly to people who can't see. As for grief, you'll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you're drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it's some physical thing. Maybe it's a happy memory or a photograph. Maybe it's a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive. In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don't even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you'll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out. But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what's going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything...and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life. Somewhere down the line, and it's different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas, or landing at O'Hare. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself. And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you'll come out. Take it from an old guy. The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don't really want them to. But you learn that you'll survive them. And other waves will come. And you'll survive them too. If you're lucky, you'll have lots of scars from lots of loves. And lots of shipwrecks. (author unknown) more Quotes