15 Life Lessons Worth Remembering

I was reading 'Life Maps' by Gregory E. Lang the other day. It's a great book filled with some amazingly simple directions (as the author puts it) that one can use to find his/her way in life. Although what the book offers are lessons that are quite simple and require only common sense to understand, it's a pity that still some of us humans lack that common sense and are too engrossed in our own selves to realize the worth of loved ones.

Isn't it funny how most of us don't realize what direction our life is taking while we make irrational decisions time and time again? Isn't it funny how we start our journey for something and half way through lose the sight of it? The truth is that it isn't funny at all! Still a number of us remain blind to what's right in front of them and start taking life and all those dear to us for granted, only realizing their worth when its much too late. Anyways, so much for my rantings :)

While there are so many things in the book that are worth sharing, given below are only a few of the worthwhile lessons to live by...

• Don't have double standards. If you don't want others doing it to you, you shouldn't do it to them either.
• Make time now for those you love. You never know how much time you might have to give later.
• Its easier to lose the respect of someone you love than it is to earn it. Once earned, be sure to keep it.
• Know what brings out the worst in you and avoid it.
• Try harder when given a second chance.
• Contribute time and money generously when you can. When you cannot, make up for it later.
• If you have led someone to expect something from you, don't get mad at them when eventually they do.
• Give more than you take. It will come back to you in one way or another.
• Loving someone is all the more reason to tell them when they are wrong.
• Never take up a habit that you know you will need to break someday.
• When in doubt, wait. Often a quick decision is the wrong one.
• It's more important to care about what your loved ones think than what strangers think.
• Remember that succeeding in marriage and family is better than becoming the world's best CEO.
• When your life isn't going according to plan, ask yourself if you have the right plan.

and here's one that perhaps seems hard to believe but is nevertheless true to its core:

• Although opposites attract, they seldom stay together.