#19 Listen to your mama

Because I said so.

If you live under my roof, you abide by my rules.

Try convincing a child to do as you say without needing to end it with the most dumbfounded reasoning ever of "Because I said so. "

The battle: Why must I clean my room?
1. It will help you find your stuff quicker.
2. So when you are old enough and have your own home, people don't think I raised a slob.
3. So little, crawly creatures don't come visiting you at night.
4. Because your room is in my house.
5. Because this isn't a hotel with room service.

If none of the above work:
Because I said so!

The battle: Why can't I stay out late with friend A?
1. Because I don't know who your friend is.
2. It isn't that I don't trust you, I don't trust everything else around you.
3. Because you should be studying.

If none of the above work:
Because I said so!


Christianity
Honor your father and mother. -Ten Commandments

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. -Ephesians 6:1

Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. -Colossians 3:20

Random
We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves. -Henry Ward Beecher

The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents and the second half by our children. -Clarence Day

Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers. -Socrates

Parents who are afraid to put their foot down usually have children who step on their toes. -Chinese Proverb

Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence. -Plato

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands. -Anne Frank

#18 Action Speak Louder Than Words

Love is a verb.

Action, action, action. My mom could have told me a million and one times to pray, eat my vegetables, to say please and thank you, but if she never showed me, I would have probably been a junk food eating slob that shoved people around all day. We all need a role model that shows us how to be. Growing up, my mother didn't have to tell me she loved me. I just knew. Some adults don't understand what it means to love, as a child I probably wouldn't have understood those 3 little words. I figured it out, put two and 2 together, who else was feeding me, bathing me, protecting me. Now as I sleep deprived mother of a toddler, I get it even more. All I know is my child better one day appreciate all the night wakings, all the agony I felt because he didn't eat well despite my many attempts in a given day. I hope he just knows how much love I have for him all throughout his life, without me having to say a word.

A co-worker of mine, told me she hates going to church. When I asked why, she explains as a child her mother often scolded her and forced her to go, but never went herself. She swore when she was old enough she wasn't going to to go or make her own children go. She has given her now teenage children an "option" to go if they would like, but she stopped going a long time ago herself. Her children tell their mommy whom never went to church with them that they are not into going.

Christianity

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. -1 John 3:18

15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. -James 2:15-17

Random
They do not love that do not show their love – Shakespeare
Well done is better than well said. -Benjamin Franklin

A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is rain. -Arabian Proverb

Talk doesn't cook rice. -Chinese Proverb

When deeds speak, words are nothing. -African Proverb

As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do. -Andrew Carnegie

People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do. -Lewis Cass

#17 Pray

Prayer is our chance in the day to reflect on who we are, be grateful for what we have, ask for what we desire and ponder on how we would like to improve - in peace and alone. As a child, I prayed every night before I went to bed. I remember vividly thanking God for my parents, asking God to help me get 100's on all my tests (haha as if God didn't have better things to do) and asking for protection for me and my family. I still believe in the power of prayer, so why the heck don't I pray as much as I want to.

Christianity

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. -James 5:16

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. -Philippians 4:6

Judaism

Moses replied, "When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the LORD. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the LORD's. -Exodus 9:29

Buddhism

Prayer is an attempt to merge the inner workings of our life with the rhythm of the universe. -Daisaku Ikeda

Random

Pray, and let God worry. -Martin Luther

If I want to be alone, some place I can write, I can read, I can pray, I can cry, I can do whatever I want - I go to the bathroom . -Alicia Keys

I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit. -Kahlil Gibran

Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God. -Andrew Murray

We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties. -Oswald Chambers

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. - Mahatma Gandhi

#16 Exercise

1 one thousand -- 2 one thousand -- 3 one thousand

Walk 10 Minutes a Day

The outrageous price of gasoline will force us to walk or bike more. Which may not be a bad thing for us Americans. Many of us say we don't have time to exercise, but I think we can't afford not to find time. We often wait until we are on our road to being old, when we get that scary cholesterol results test back or when we feel our bones and muscles weakening and wish we had exercised more. At the point when it is harder to get into the groove of things we begin to try to move it, move it. The benefits of consistent exercise will increase your potential at a healthy, long life. Many scientist also claim exercises fight off stress and depression related feelings. So to honor my high school teacher "come on people, get on up and do some jumping jacks, ready begin, 1, 2, 3..."


Random
To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first. -Shakespeare, Henry VIII. Act I. Sc

If it weren't for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldn't get any exercise at all. -Joey Adams

Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it. -Plato

A man's health can be judged by which he takes two at a time - pills or stairs. -Joan Welsh

#15 Don't have a big head

Self praise is no praise.

Humble yourself so that others can see your true inner beauty. How much more wonderful would it be if you receive a compliment without ever trying to get one. Remain meek at heart and others will notice your strengths.

Christianity
The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. -Psalm 147:6

For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. -Psalm 149:4

He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. -Proverbs 3:34

For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. -Mathew 23:12

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. -1Peter 5:6

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. -Mathew 5:5

Judaism
Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. -Numbers 12:3

Islam
“Whoever is humble to men for God's sake, may God exalt his eminence - Mohamed

Random
Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work. -Mother Theresa

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. - John Wooden

He who is humble is confident and wise. He who brags is insecure and lacking -Lisa Edsmondson

Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

#14 Be the bigger person

Don't imitate others, be the bigger person.

As children, when we were in the midst of playing with our friends or siblings and one of the other children did something wrong to us, well, we just had to do it back, of course. But no matter how good our case was both of us would be in trouble. We would defend ourselves and say, "But, sheeeeeeeeeeeee started it." My mom didn't care. Her response, "I don't care he did it first, you don't have to do it back, you should be the bigger person." This reminds me of what I call "driver's revenge, roarrrrrrrr" When we are on the road and we get cut off by a crazy driver or we look in the rear view mirror and see someone on our butt, we almost always gets into what I call "driver's revenge, roarrrrrrrr." It's a jungle out there. You would think by the time we got our licenses we would be mature enough to be able to just let it go and move on with our life, but nope, our adult response, he must pay!

Christianity
But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. -Luke 6:27-28

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. -Romans 12:14

If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
—Luke 6:27-35

Random
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend. -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business. -Mohandas K. Gandhi

The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend. - Abraham Lincoln

#13 Don't Judge

Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.



This is probably the hardest thing to avoid. We often judge others and focus too much of our energy on the faults of others instead of focusing on fixing ourselves.

Christianity
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. -John 8:6-7

Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. -Luke 6:37

And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? -Mathew 7:3

Buddhism
If a man looks after the faults of others, and is always inclined to be offended, his own passions will grow, and he is far from the destruction of passions. -The Dharmapada

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe. -Dalai Lama

Random
When we judge others we leave no room to love them. -Mother Theresa

Our senses don't deceive us: our judgment does. - Johann von Goethe

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself. -Wayne Dyer