February 9: The Basics

Reminder to self:  Stick with the basics.  KISS (Keep It Super Simple).  FOCUS ON THE FUNDAMENTALS.  MASTER THE BASICS.

I once read a book called, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”

It was the basics of life on how to live well and be a good person. The premise of the book was how it was all taught to the author in kindergarten and how life and all the distractions of life made him forget about all of those important things.  For a while he forgot who he was.

Don’t we all forget who, and WHAT,  we TRULY are sometimes?  Don’t we all forget what is truly valuable and important to us?  There are so many distractions available to us in our human lives!

What are some things that distract you and occupy your time?  What are the things which are truly valuable and important to you?  How much time do you spend on the distractions every day and how much time do you spend on what is important to you every day?  Be honest!  I calculated it out, kept a time journal for a week, and saw that I needed to make a few adjustments in what I focus on, and where I spend my time and energy.

I think it is useful to get back to the basics and do what we learned to be the good, decent human beings most of us were taught to be when we were younger:

1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don’t hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
7. Say you’re SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you-just not every meal.
11. Live a balanced life – learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.”
― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Today’s challenge for myself:  Today I will be mindful of, and remember, the basics in my life, and do my very best to ALWAYS be the best version of myself.  I will not only make my own life more beautiful, but the lives of those around me. 

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Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our personal realities.