50 Life Lessons From 50 Years

“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
― Mary Oliver

Today I’m 50! Happy birthday to me.

What better way to celebrate it than to recall all I’ve learned a half century of living on this our beautiful Earth. You might find some of them seemingly contradictory, but they’re really not!

50 Life Lessons From 50 Years Of Living

1. You are on this Earth school so that your soul can prepare for the next phase of living. Be open to all learning.
2. At the end of your life you want to be proud of the choices you’ve made. Make good choices.
3. If you have made poor choices, own them and imbibe the lessons they were meant to teach you.
4. Life is no picnic, but neither is it a drudge. Learn to enjoy every aspect of it.
5. You get to write your own life story. Make it a bestseller!
6. You are responsible for your life. Don’t let it be hijacked by anyone else. Put yourself first.
7. Never apologize for being who you are.
8. Invest time getting to know yourself. Remember, you have to live with yourself for the rest of your life.
9. Sing in the shower. Happiness is an inside job. Choose to be happy.
10. Don’t take yourself too seriously. I promise you that the world won’t come to an end if you wear your clothes inside out in public!
11. There’s nothing better than a good belly laugh. Laugh often.
12. Plan for the future, but live in the moment.
13. Don’t let your past dictate your present choices.
14. There are mean people in this world. Learn to deal with them skillfully.
15. There are good people in the world. Make sure you connect with more of them.
16. Give of your time and presence to others.
17. Value your time and let people know that you do.
18. Be punctual. Don’t waste other people’s time because you can’t be better organized.
19. Take nothing for granted – not even the air you breathe.
20. Be grateful for everything. Gratitude will see you through a lot of difficult times.
21. Take care of yourself. The world owes you nothing.
22. The Universe is very benevolent. Learn to plug into its resources.
23. Practice mindfulness. Self-awareness is the key to living a mindful life.
24. Be kind. Your acts of kindness especially when done with no expectation of reward, will bring much soul satisfaction.
25. Be open to love. There’s always that one person out there that will get you. Keeping looking for him/her.
26. Be God-aware. Know that there’s a Higher Power in control of the Universe.
27. Seek intelligent company. Learn to make intelligent and interesting conversation. There’s nothing worse than a bore!
28. Realize that everyone is creative. Find your creative outlet/s.
29. Practise forgiveness. Forgive yourself and others too.
30. Give and you’ll get. (Yes, Mom, I know you told me that!).
31. Have dreams and goals. Know when to pursue them and when to let  go. Sometimes the best learning is from unfulfilled dreams and unaccomplished goals.
32. Know when it is time to let go of a relationship. Believe me, you and the other person will survive (thrive, even!).
33. Make time for silliness.
34. Money is not the root of evil. Envy often is.
35. Get yourself a pet. I’d suggest a dog, naturally.
36. Appearances can be deceptive. Learn to look beyond the obvious.
37. Don’t trust anyone who is nice all the time.
38. Learn to value your own opinion. Take the advice of others, but the final call should be yours.
39. Trust your intuition.
40. Enjoy the little things – the smell of rain, the sound of birds, the feel of a warm blanket, chocolate…
41. Shrouds have no pockets. You can’t take your wealth with you. Be prudent, but never miserly.
42. Get a regular massage. You deserve to feel good. Drink plenty of water too.
43. Live in grace, never in guilt.
44. Be comfortable with your emotions – they are only indicators of what’s going on within you.
45. Count up to 10 before you write an angry letter, email or social media update. Run it by a trustworthy person before you send/publish it.
46. Take regular naps. Rest your body – it’s good for your soul.
47. Make room for awe – a sunset, a baby’s birth, a baby’s  smile – let them fill you with awe.
48. Remember that you haven’t seen it all, experienced it all and don’t know it all. Be open to new experiences.
49. Life is short. Make it meaningful.
50. Reach for your dreams, but remember that every day on this earth can be a dream too. Make it a technicolor one.

And there’s a bonus of 25 quotes which are life lessons in themselves! Enjoy!

1. Your life is already a miracle of chance waiting for you to shape its destiny. – Toni Morrison
2. A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living. – Virginia Woolf
3. There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, everyone of them sufficient. – Marilynne Robinson
4. I think this is how we’re supposed to be in the world -present and in awe.- Anne Lamott
5. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest. – Maya Angelou
6. Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots. – Elizabeth Gilbert
7. What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right. — Albert Einstein
8. Think less about what went wrong and more about how you would like it to go right.-Alan Cohen
9. You are the hero of your own story – Unknown
10. You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop.- Rumi
11. The only permission, the only validation, and the only opinion that matters in our quest for greatness is our own. – Steve Maraboli
12. Your life is your message to the world. Make sure it’s inspiring. – Unknown
13. There is more to life than simply increasing its speed. – Mahatma Gandhi
14. There is little success where there is little laughter. – Andrew Carnegie
15. It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. – Henry David Thoreau
16. A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at. -Bruce Lee
17. “By seeking and blundering we learn.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
18. Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. – Vincent Van Gogh
19. Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows. – Michael Landon
20. The task ahead of you is never greater than the strength within you. – Unknown
21. Remember to breathe. It is after all, the secret of life.- Gregory Maguire
22. Do something today that your future self will thank you for.- Anonymous
23. Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.
    – Marcus Aurelius
24. Let go of your attachment to being right, and suddenly your mind is more open. – Ralph Marston
25. Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. – John Lennon

What are the lessons life is teaching you? Do add to my list. (I creating the draft of life lessons for my 100th birthday! 😉 )