Lessons I learnt this year…

Life will throw both the good and the bad at you. Wear your oldest pyjamas and stay in bed when you are hurt. Go for a stroll or a run, when  you can. Remember, you always can.

When it is dark within and out, pull back the curtains and let the sun do its work. It will be hard to walk to the window but try it once. It will be easy the next time.

When the sun does not come out for a long time, remember that it will.

When everything is hard, the simplest thing is to hope. Hope.

What no one can take away from you is your ability to create yourself anew or to  create something. Anything.

When things are  not working, it is time for you to get to work.

Friends are people who know you and will walk the end of the earth with you. Everyone else is an acquaintance.

Listen to your gut when it screams, “Stay away, keep your distance!” (From something or someone)

Some people come into you life to only take. Others to only give. Both will teach you immensely.

Whenever you are being manipulated, allow yourself to know it.

Courtesy is easy. Especially when it is being tested.

Focus on the grace that puts you out of harm’s way and learn from the hurt because it will teach you what you need to learn most.

Your energy is precious. You can either drain it or invest it in something positive.

Be open but protect yourself.

Hear the unspoken. Talk less when someone is struggling to say something that could mean nothing or perhaps be of  a life and death significance.

When you are asked for help, think first of what you can do rather than what you cannot.

Understand that the only way to pay back some debts is by passing on the good you receive. You will always get more than what you can give back.

Your children deserve your courtesy far more than most people you never lose your cool with.

The only thing you will never forgive yourself for is not loving your children enough.

Humility and self-respect are not mutually exclusive.

Being a better parent, friend, human-being is a life long lesson and you will never get everything right. Accept it and keep learning.

The only thing that really counts is your reality. Not the perception that anyone else has of you, your work or your life.

Value those to whom you matter and those who matter to you. And even those to whom you are nothing because they will remind you just how much good in your life, you take for granted.

Everything else is insignificant.

I may have to learn some of these lessons again but here is hoping that the  coming year will be gentler, kinder to us all and will teach us to be better to ourselves and each other.

 

Reema Moudgil is the author of Perfect Eight (http://www.flipkart.com/b/books/perfect-eight-reema-moudgil-book-9380032870?affid=unboxedwri )