Thoughts for 2010

This was an email given to me from my mother. I thought it was profound and decided to share it with our 5ivebruh reading community. The 00s have come and gone. It has been a rough decade. We watch as our illusions of safety were torn asunder with a financial recession and the attack of 9/11. Our disconnect grew as the gaps between rich and poor lengthen, and our middle class shrunk. Tensions between our various racial groups reach a breaking point, and we divided ourselves across superfluous lines like religion, politics, and ethnicity.

Yet we saw the beginning of the new world with rampant influx of technology. As our races harden ourselves against each other, our music formed and melded, creating some of the widest range of different types of music the world has ever seen. Black people found a new acceptance with in pop culture, and beauty is beginning to become defined by realism rather then idealism. And the desire to reach out and help has become a pinnacle aspect of each one of our lives.

We are at a crucial point in history. We now have to define the course of human advancement. I hope these thoughts will stay with you as you continue on your own personal journey in this bold and new decade.

HANDBOOK 2010

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything..
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing! Trust God for everything....
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything. In HIS own time....
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change...
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.. Wait and See...
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it. You have work to do....
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.