I have learned quite a few things this year, and have learned to actually live many more that I already knew.  Here goes…

  • Say “Yes” and allow your children to be children as often as possible, unless what they want will harm them or someone else. Sometimes saying “No” becomes a habit we need to break.
  • Children and adults are moved by and respond to compassionate reasoning over yelling every time, and can see in your eyes if your faking.
  • Those who don’t respond right away, probably expect and are more familiar with the yelling, so they need the compassion even more.
  • Show those you love that they are loved whenever the opportunity arises, not because that might be your last chance to do so, but because you actually love them.
  • People actually get the opposite of what they want when they don’t make their own educated decisions, and instead, follow blindly whatever group will lead them.
  • Those older than you almost always have a wisdom worth listening to if you just close your mouth and open your heart.
  • “Normal” people are just not eccentric enough to imagine and create the advancements the world has enjoyed. Thank goodness enough of those “eccentric” people have not been drugged normal yet so we can continue advancing as a civilization.
  • It’s almost always NOT about you.
  • When it is about you, say and show you are sorry.
  • The focus of your daily attention is your current reality and the foundation of your future.
  • That future becomes your new reality much faster than you expect.
  • The focus of your daily attention is also your child’s current reality, and becomes the foundation for the future reality of your grandchildren.
  • Making a child smile brings more light and warmth to life than anything else.
  • It is our choices, not our talents that show who we truly are. (Okay, I stole that one from Dumbledore, but it bears repeating daily!)
  • Having someone in your life who has been present throughout most of your history, and still likes you is an amazing gift.
  • Tomorrow is another day with no mistakes in it. (Okay, I stole that one from Miss Stacy, but I still have to go to sleep repeating it.)

I would greatly appreciate any other wisdom you can share as we say good bye to one year, and my learning continues in another.

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom