Keys For Living

[MajestyJo]

1. Slow down; God is still in heaven.
You are not responsible for doing
it all yourself, right now.

2. Remember a happy, peaceful time in your past.
Rest there. Each moment has richness
that takes a lifetime to savor.

3. Set your own pace.
When someone is pushing you,
it's OK to tell them they're pushing.

4. Take nothing for granted:
watch water flow, the corn grow,
the leaves blow, your neighbor mow.

5. Taste your food.
God gives it to delight
as well as to nourish.

6. Notice the sun and the moon as they rise and set.
They are remarkable for their steady pattern
of movement, not their speed.

7. Quit planning how you're going to use
what you know, learn, or possess.
God's gifts just are; be grateful
and their purpose will be clear.

8. When you talk with someone,
don't think about what you'll say next.
Thoughts will spring up naturally
if you let them.

9. Talk and play with children.
It will bring out the unhurried
little person inside you.

10. Create a place in your home...
at your work...in your heart...
where you can go for quiet and recollection.
You deserve it.

11. Allow yourself time to be
lazy and unproductive.
Rest isn't luxury; it's a necessity.

12. Listen to the wind blow.
It carries a message of yesterday & tomorrow
- and now. NOW counts.

13. Rest on your laurels.
They bring comfort whatever their size,
age, or condition.

14. Talk slower. Talk less.
Don't talk.Communication isn't
measured by words.

15. Give yourself permission
to be late sometimes.
Life is for living, not scheduling.

16. Listen to the song of a bird;
the complete song.
Music and nature are gifts,
but only if you are willing to receive them.

17. Take time just to think.
Action is good and necessary,
but it's fruitful only if we
muse, ponder, and mull.

18. Make time for play -
the things you like to do.
Whatever your age, your inner child
needs re-creation.

19. Watch and listen to the night sky.
It speaks.

20. Listen to the words you speak,
especially in prayer.

21. Learn to stand back and let others
take their turn as leaders.
There will always be new opportunities
for you to step out in front again.

22. Divide big jobs into little jobs.
If God took six days to create the universe,
can you hope to do any better?

23. When you find yourself rushing
& anxious, stop. Ask yourself "WHY?"
you are rushing and anxious.
The reasons may improve
your self-understanding.

24. Take time to read.
Thoughtful reading
is enriching reading.

25. Direct your life with purposeful choices,
not with speed and efficiency.
The best musician is one who
plays with _expression and meaning,
not the one who finishes first.

26. Take a day off alone; make a retreat.
You can learn from monks and hermits
without becoming one.

27. Pet a furry friend.
You will give and get the gift of now.

28. Work with your hands.
It frees the mind.

29. Take time to wonder.
Without wonder,
life is merely existence.

30. Sit in the dark.
It will teach you to see
and hear, taste and smell.

31. Once in a while, turn down the lights,
the volume, the throttle, the invitations.
Less really can be more.

32. Let go. Nothing is usually the hardest
thing to do - but often it is the best.

33. Take a walk-but don't go anywhere.
If you walk just to get somewhere,
you sacrifice the walking.

34. Count your friends.
If you have one, you are lucky.
If you have more, you are blessed.
Bless them in return.

35. Count your blessings -
one at a time and slowly

~Author Unknown~

[MajestyJo]

I am only as strong as the coffee I drink, the hairspray I use and the friends I have. To the cool men and women that have touched my life. Here is to you!

- An old e-mail posted on Jo's Kitchen

Not sure if these are repeats, they are posts from my sites that are no longer in existence, but posts that I made on other sites.

[MajestyJo]

Live life fully

“Time is life. It is irreversible and irreplaceable. To waste your time is to waste your life, but to master your time is to master your life and make the most of it.”

-- Alan Lakein

Refuse to feel USED by life! Make full use of it instead.

To do this, we initially need to take control of the time of our lives. Time management is life management, from the inside out. It’s an INSIDE job. You already have everything you need. You have the power to create a life of meaning, fulfillment and joy.



Your challenge is to find what works for you! Review the literature but make your own decisions. To do this, you’ll need to:

Get to know yourself -- your desires and passions, rhythms, styles, challenges, needs and habits.
Be aware that you always have choice. Claim your independence and power to choose what is right for your life, moment by moment.

“Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”

-- M. Scott Peck

From Higher Awarenes - used with permission

[MajestyJo]

We certainly get caught up in self and then I went the other extreme and didn't care, or so I told myself. It all boiled down to low self-esteem and self-worth.

I need to learn to value myself and put back the values that my disease had discarded along the way. I needed to be secure within myself, not look to outside things to make me feel better. I used make up, dangly earrings, different hairstyles and colors, all to try to improve upon the outside picture, when all I needed to do was go within, and fill up with spiritual things, then and only then, did my true beauty shine through.

Grapevine Quote from April 2004

"I THOUGHT GOD WOULD OPEN UP THE GATES OF HEAVEN AND LET ME IN. HE DIDN'T. HE OPENED UP THE GATES OF HELL AND LET ME OUT"

"IT IS EASIER TO STAY STRAIGHT THEN TO GET STRAIGHT"

This is the CA version of the same quote:

I'm not certain in mind or heart if our Good Lord through His mercy love and wisdom will open up the Gates of Heaven and allow ME in. But from what I realize of my horrid past, through the 12 steps and the adorned fellowship, He certainly opened up the gates of Hell and let me out.