Monday, March 28, 2011

PROPHETS, KINDERGARTEN AND SUNSCREEN

My father sent me one of those chain emails with a subject line that reads "Handbook 2011." I'd like to retitle it "Handbook for Life."

It reminds me of some of my other favorite "handbooks":

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum


and of course Baz Lurhmann's Sunscreen song:



A boy in college wrote his own version, especially for me, and I still pull it out from time to time, so I'll always remember.

Here's some of my favorite instructions from the email Handbook:

Live with the 3 E's - Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
Forgive everyone for everything.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

What are some of your favorite pieces of life advice? Where do they come from?

3 comments:

  1. I love this advice.

    I love "Stop comparing yourself to others," and "You are responsible for your own happiness and nobody else's."

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  2. I think "forgive everyone for everything" will make any life a richer, more joyous one.

    I also like "what other people think of you is none of your business." A new twist on "you can't control what other people think of you."

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  3. Some of my favorite advise came from my late father who always said: Do the best you can with what you've got. And that's what I try to do everyday :-)

    I saw your notation about finding the Jane Yolen poem on revision in the comment section of that post. I did the best I could but these marginal eyes of mine couldn't find it. If you have a spare moment, would you cut/paste the info about the poem or bookmark and send it to me. Thank you so much!
    Gail kidlitgail at gmail dot com

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