how to live your life without regrets

A friend sent me this and I thought it had some wonderful truths in it.


How To Live Your Life
Without Regrets
by Phylameana lila Desy

Everyone has made poor choices or done something in their past that could possibly be labeled as "regrettable." But, think about it. The fact that you are now able to look back and realize that a mistake or mis-step occurred means you have learned a valuable lesson. Some of my choices may have landed me in unpleasant circumstances, but experiencing these things certainly built my current character. I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for those character-building situations. Mistakes are stepping stones to an evolving life... No need for you to sink into regret or despair -- keep your chin up!

Here's How:

1) Acknowledge a mistake has been made - It is easy to play the blame game, pointing fingers at someone else or cirmcumstances as to why you have stumbled or why your life is difficult. Taking personal ownership that your past actions resulted in bringing about your current reality is the first step to moving past regrets and moving toward a brighter future..

2) Make amends - If your past actions or words have harmed another person an apology may be in order. Or not, apologies can be tricky. Judge for yourself if an apology will help matters or only drudge up old wounds better left alone. But, definitely forgive yourself! Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes. Continuely berating yourself for past actions is self-defeating. Would you kick a dog while it was laying down? Of course not. Please don't do this to yourself. Righting a wrong is not always feasible. If you feel badly about a past action you've taken that cannot be righted, forgive yourself, and let it go..

3) Do-overs - Sometimes feelings of regret arise not from our past actions, but from our non-actions. Have you ever regretted not taking a vacation, staying stuck in a dead-end job, not attending college... or whatever? It may be too late to reverse those decisions, but you still have options. Some colleges offer free classes for seniors. You might not have the time, money, or physical endurance to travel, but you can rent movies or attend travelog showings about the regions you wish to learn more about. New opportunities are available around every corner if you just open your heart and follow your dreams..

4) Be grateful - The most valuable lessons learned in life often come from the mistakes we make. It may take a walk down a dark alley to see clearly. Embrace your follies, feel gratitude for getting past the worst episodes and eventually finding your way along a less-cluttered path..

5) Be careful not to repeat the same mistake - A skinned-knee teaches a small child not to run so fast. Slow-down. If you are repeatedly faced with similar difficulties over and over again, this is a sure bet that you have not learned the lessons these situations are trying to teach. Opportunity will surface only after you take responsibility for faulty actions taken and change your current and future behaviors accordingly..

6) Be watchful of future knee-jerk reactions - This is probably the toughest step, not reacting negatively to situations or the people who tend to push your buttons. We don't always have control over the things life tosses in front of us, but we do control our reactions. Stay calm. Introduce stress-management into your daily life. Meditation helps clear and focus the mind. Therapeutic play will help balance work-related stresses..

7) Looking deeper inside - Re-evaluate the direction your life is taking. Have you accepted that your past mistakes are just that --- in the past? Focus on today. Become aware of your future goals and desires. Setting clear intentions will help clear the path so that your life progresses with a freer heart and increased happiness. The best is yet to come! Believe it..

TIPS:

* Remember nobody is perfect, Including yourself!
* Forgiveness is golden!
* Live for today, Yesterday was then!

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Memorial day

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and keeping safe. Here are a few graphics to remind us of why we get to enjoy a long weekend.

the day my sister tried to kill me

The day started innocently enough. I had had the bright idea to go to my sister's and go to the park near her where she had taken some really cute pictures as a lure apparently. We get to my sister's in plenty of time and visit a few minutes. Then my brother-in-law loads up the boys and the dog in his vehicle and Mandi and I ride with my sister.

We go to Sloan park (think thats the name) and get out and carry the food to the tables. Hot dogs were great.

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The boys were more interested in playing than eating though.

So then in my wonderful niceness bring out bubbles for my sister and myself to play with. I had already given the boys their bubble packets.

Then we go to the mill and take some pics of the water wheel. It was funny because we kept fussing at the boys to not touch the fence and break it and as soon as Lisa and I posed in front we broke the fence and had to fix it.

then we walk up to the little covered building place that I really wanted to see because its always so cute in Lisa's pictures. They were having a wedding though so we couldn't get close. The bride is in a fancy wedding gown and a horse drawn carriage then all the guests were in shorts and stuff. Not exactly kosher.

So this is the part where my devious sister says let's go to Dan Nicholas park and I in my naive guilibitily agree. We get back in the vehicles and off we go. We pass Dan Nicholas park and I say "theres the park", Lisa says with an evil smile on her face "I thought we would go to the eagle preservation trail instead".

We drive on and leave the paved road (my first clue) then we all notice how this road looks like the road from wrong turn. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295700/ ) We keep going though. We get to the parking area and there are all sorts of trucks there. Not a single human being though (clue 2) So off we go on the trails.

There isn't a sound at all and no birds whatsover. (clue 3) We keep joking about the wrong turn and keep walking.  I notice there are some spots on Jason's(brother in law) leg. He checks and they are ticks. During this walk I bet Jason got a hundred ticks on him. There were a million spiders. I haven't ever seen so many spiders crawling on the ground in my life. There were spider webs as big as humans. We walked and we walked and we walked.

During the entire 2 hours and 36 minutes we never saw another human being nor a single eagle. I honestly reached the point where I just knew I wasn't going to make it out. I got slower and slower until finally I was the last person on the trail. We turn around and go back the way we have come because we are all hot, thirsty, and tired.  Finally after the longest and worse walk of my life we make it out. My wonderful nephew Daniel comes back onto the trail to bring me a can of coke. Let me tell you I haven't ever had such a wonderful coke in my life. There is an evil little man sitting in front of our car in a golf cart laughing at us. All of the trucks that were there are now gone. We finally leave the death trap and go back home.

Lisa later tries to convince me it was only 4 miles but then I realize we didn't make a circle, we turned around and back tracked so bascially we walked close to 8 miles.

Lisa is not picking any more places for us to visit.

swarm of bees at work

One day I looked out my office window and saw lots of little bees. There was a whole swarm of them. Finally they settles on the wall and were actually there a couple of days. I called the county extension office to see about someone coming to get them since bees are in trouble in the country and dying off. They only knew of one person and he was too old to come get them. I urge anyone who keeps bees to register with the county office if you would ever been interested in some free bees. Below are the photos in order.

Gary Allen at Speed Street 600

I found out on Tuesday that Garry was going to be at this year's Speed Street 600 in Charlotte. I love Garry. I went to one of his concerts about 3 years ago in Danville VA. This man has so much energy and talent.

I look online for directions since I don't go to Charlotte that often and off we go. I have decided that since I get nervous driving in large cities and parking is supposed to be hard to come by that we are going to park and ride the Lynx train. We head to our exit and park and go to the station. It took a bit to figure out the machine to get tickets. It was 2.60 round trip for each of us. Then to the tracks to wait for a train. We pass on the first train because it was so full. Finally the second train shows up and we go on. We grab seats and it turned out to be a real good thing. By the time we stopped at all the stops and made it to our destination it wasn't even standing room only. I haven't ever been so crowded in my life. Finally at Speed Street. We walk around a bit and get some snacks and drinks. Listen to a few of the bands. One called Landsharks was singing Jimmy Buffett music and they were very good. I ask someone which stage Garry was going to be on since I have forgotten to bring the schedule. Turns out he was on the Miller stage. I start forcing my way to the front and taking pictures. Awesome concert all the way around. The trip home on the Lynx was more fun because now we knew to get better seats and there were a couple of young girls who were a riot to have on the train.
Here are some of my favorite photos from the concert.


band called the Landsharks- they were very good.




Gary coming out on stage




a closer view

I hate hate hate WAlgreen's

have read some many people talking about how great the RR program is that I though I would giveWalgreen's another shot but today's visit cured that and I will never go to another Walgreen's no matter what the deal is. I haven't ever been to another store with as horrible customer service.

I have had a gift card for Walgreen's for over a year now that I hadn't used because I had hated going there so much due to the extreme hassle I always got because of coupons. I go today and complete the proctor gamble register reward sale to get my $20 in RR. Then I decided to go ahead and do the cover girl/olay one. I was not rolling my RR, I was just using regular coupons and going to pay the difference. The clerk stopped my RR from printing and said I was only allowed one RR to print a day. She then showed me on the sales paper where it says 1 RR per day. She refused to let me even buy the Venus Embrace since it would have triggered a RR. I also tried to use a coupon I printed from Walgreen's very own site on Zantac for $5 off any Zantac 150 but since it was on sale for 3.99 they refused to let me use it. They wouldn't adjust the price of the coupon nor the price of the product.I will never shop at Walgreen's again.

Every single time I have went to Walgreen's, and I have been to several different ones, I get extreme hassles. Thank goodness CVS isn't like that.