Ideas to live by...

1. Be honest with yourself and others. A lie may save you pain in the short run, but in the long run it leads to nothing but pain.
2. Try to imagine how other people feel. This is called empathy. You may find that if you choose to seek to understand rather than seek to destroy that your life and your relationships may change for the better.
3. Understand that people can change and grow. Just because someone says or does something immature or offensive once does not mean they cannot change. Ignorance is correctable with education. You don't want people writing you off. Don't write them off.
4. Learn to give and to experience grace. Grace is unmerited favor. We don't deserve it, but it is given anyway. Giving grace to others begins with being graceful towards yourself.
5. You are beautiful. Right now and in this moment. Not 40 pounds from now and not with the right haircut. You are beautiful as a human being and a creation of God...right now in this very moment.
6. Read number 5 again and internalize it.
7. Realize that your life is not just your own. We are all intimately connected with one another. We need each other and others need us. When we are strong we can help someone who is weak and when we are feeling weak we can gain strength from another. Grace and altruism always take place within the context of vulnerability and humility.
8. Avoid excesses. Anything is good in moderation, but too much of a good thing can be bad...just ask the guy who ate too much sugar free chocolate what happened...once he comes out of the bathroom...

Ultimately, life is about being kind to yourself and to others. It is about relationships and connections. It is about seeking the experience of being alive and we cannot truly have that experience without kindness, connection, and vulnerability. Here endeth the sermonette.-