Inspiration #28 - Yield
This morning I was delighted to open up my e-mail, and find a wonderful message from a dear online friend and Customer. It seemed such a perfect follow-up to yesterday's blog post, so I thought I would share. Thanks Becky!
Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio .
To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.
My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
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 enjoy it.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and
family will.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.
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.. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to be happy. But its all 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. Over prepare, 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 but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will
this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive but dont forget.
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. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
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. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.
42. The best is yet to come...
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Pretty simple, and yet powerful stuff. Truly I think this list is one that anyone would benefit from printed out and taped up where it can be read and re-read.
I was particularly taken with several of them. #10 - well, that's a no-brainer! Especially dark chocolate. #26 is something I recently brought up in a blog post speaking of a life lesson my Mum has <tried to> instill in me. Lots of other ones hit a chord within my soul.
But #44. Yield.
It's really resounding within me. One word, something we see by way of this pictogram pratically every day in our travels. Such familiarity on the one hand, and yet something that doesn't always come naturally.
1. to give forth or produce by a natural process or in return for cultivation: This farm yields enough fruit to meet all our needs.
2. to produce or furnish (payment, profit, or interest): a trust fund that yields ten percent interest annually; That investment will yield a handsome return.
3. to give up, as to superior power or authority: They yielded the fort to the enemy.
4. to give up or surrender (oneself): He yielded himself to temptation.
5. to give up or over; relinquish or resign: to yield the floor to the senator from Ohio.
That's a heckuva lot of words to describe a 5-letter word that looks funny! But it has given me my inspiration for today, as I have firmly decided that I shall yield to whatever temptations may show themselves in my Studio, so that I may yield some finished jewelry by day's end. Hopefully, my efforts will yield some photos, which may even lead to yielding some sales, so that I may start over, and yield to even more temptations all over again tomorrow. Seems like a plan to me. ;)
So that's my new motto: Yield.
It's surprisingly easy to do. Win-win.
Ahhhh, nicely said Val. Lessons for living....there's something here for each and every one of us. Take to heart those with which you most identify.
Great list, Val, thanks for sharing. I think 26 (and 10!) impressed me the most - maybe through reinforcement, since you recently wrote about 26.
Can't wait to see the lovely jewelry that this day YIELDS for you!
Glad you both enjoyed 'the list'. Thanks so much for making me believe that some folk actually do read my blog posts! ;) On the one hand, #29 applies, but on the other, I am liking #33.
Its great to read the lessons learned in a lifetime. At more than half way to her age I would say that I have experienced the truth of most of them.
Hi Jess - it's so nice to see you posting. 'Truth' indeed. :)
