Easy Ways To Improve Your Life

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The last six weeks have been a real learning experience for me here on Hub Pages. It's similar to sitting in an airport watching people except that I am afforded the comfort of my desk, my couch or my comfy pillow. Reading feedback, receiving comments both positive and negative, hate mail, fan mail, no mail. You definitely cannot fake who you are when those critical moments arrive so don't. To those of you who have been mentors, thank you.

1. Let go of the negative past. You can't change it and it serves no benefit. Stop saying that you can learn from it because you already have. Be done with it and move on.
2. Have an opinion. When someone asks you where you want to go for dinner, its because they are interested to know what you think. Learn to make a choice.
3. Listen to the stories your grandparents tell. Someday, your kids or your grandchildren may want to know the history behind your family. Having a connection to the past is a great thing.
4. Vote. If you don't vote, you can't complain about government.
5. Do not allow your buttocks to show for any reason. NO ONE wants to see the crack of your fanny or your g-string. Don't try to play it off as an accident and please don't think it's sexy. It's beyond tacky, it's trashy.
6. Don't walk away. When you and your significant other are having a serious conversation or even a fight, suck it up. It's immature to leave without acknowledgement. A lot of people need time to cool off which is perfectly okay but you have to be able to calmly explain that you are not running away, you're merely taking some time to think. If the issue you are discussing requires resolution, make sure that you find one.
7. Invest your money. Make sure that you have something waiting for you when you retire. Let's face it friends, Medicare is on the way out.
8. Learn your family's best recipe and make it. It may not turn out quite like your great-grandmother's famous homemade gingerbread but, at least you tried.
9. Say a little prayer. Alone, together, in a song, in the shower, in church, in bed at night, when you cook, when you clean, at stoplights, during the commercial breaks and anywhere in between. If you're not religious, take the time to meditate and center yourself.
10. Don't allow your kids to wear inappropriate clothing. Young girls should not wear clothes that are revealing or see-through or clothes that have inappropriate words or sayings on them. Again, trashy!
11. Learn to appreciate some form of art. music, movies, painting, landscape, architecture or maybe even something taboo! Focus on something in the world that is beautiful. Who knows, it may change the way you look at things.
12. Never stop learning. Don't allow your mind to become a wasteland! You are never too old to get intellectually better, stronger, faster and more wise. The more you know, the more you can pass on to your children and your grandchildren.
13. Hold the door. When you walk through a door, always look to see if someone is coming in behind you and don't let it slam in their face. It's common courtesy.
14. If you work in customer service, act like it. It doesn't matter how angry you are that your customer said something rude or that you didn't get a tip or that they were hateful first. It doesn't matter that you've been a pharmacist for ten years and you're tired of the manipulative druggies trying to convince you that their doctor prescribed them 9000 vicodin. Your job is to help people. Be phenomenal at it every day. When you're tired, when you're angry, when you can't possibly be nice to another person, push past it. Give people a reason to remember you being fabulous.
15. If you can't talk to people, keep a journal, jot on a computer, mark in a manual - somehow you need to make contact with someone or something. Unless of course, you are psychotic, then you should call Two Rivers Hospital.
16. Don't be afraid to put what you believe into print but remember that print can be similar to a photo. Much like an exposé about who you are. Speaking out against something you feel is unjust is commendable but public hatefulness is inappropriate. Opinion is not fact and emotions are not sound arguments. Some things are best left to your journal.
17. Fight for the underdog. My son recently told me a story about an outcast boy who brings Legos to school in the 7th grade. Of course, in my mind I was thinking that was so cool! Apparently Legos stop being cool sometime around the 5th grade. Good to know. After much conversation I did my best to convince him that he should say hello to the boy - seek him out and make contact. I hope that in our lifetime we can successfully stifle bullying.
18. Don't judge the book by it's cover. I recently read an article about how tattoos make a bad first impression. It spoke very openly about their revolting nature to some people and the fact that they can put up professional roadblocks. While I know that it is factually true that tattoos and piercings may not be the front that law firms prefer to hire, I also know that aesthetics don't equal personality or performance.
19. Criticize constructively. Leave your baggage at home. It isn't useful, helpful, appropriate, functional or practical to come unhinged when you're giving criticism. If you are always negative and loud when you're expressing your personal critiques, people will stop listening. They may be looking right into your eyes but your words will be irrelevant. The best coaches in the world have a strict philosophy of coaching by: defining the correct way to do a skill, explaining what the athlete did incorrectly and then again defining the correct way to do the skill.
20. It's not always personal! Like being coached, you have to learn to take the criticism for what it is. Learn and grow. If you should be the victim who is prey to the supervisor or manager who cannot control their emotions, don't take it personally. Sometimes people cannot help themselves. Remember that everyone has baggage and at times it's inescapable so what you think is a personal attack on your character might actually be someone's insecurities rearing up.
21. Trust your gut instincts. How many times have you second guessed yourself and regretted it? As Forest says, "That's all I have to say about that."
22. Don't litter. Littering might be the most detestable thing I've watched outside of human abuse. In my opinion littering is abuse. Don't be so lazy that you cannot take the time to put your trash, no matter how small, into a trash compartment. If you cannot find a trash receptacle, hold on to your garbage until you can find one.
23. Never speak badly about your spouse's family, his children, his ex-wife or his job. Maintain a sense of class and maturity at all times. Again, what you write in your journal is yours to keep forever. Voice your issues there.