INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE

The following is taken from a Nepalese Good Luck Tantra to keep your thoughts on a positive wavelength.

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

2. Memorize your favorite poem

3. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have, or loaf all you want

4. When you say, “I love you”, mean it.

5. When you say “I’m sorry”, look the person in the eye.

6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married

7. Believe in love at first sight

8. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much

9. Love deeply and passionately. You may get hurt, but it’s the only way to live life completely

10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling

11. Don’t judge people by their relatives, or by the life they were born into.

12. Teach yourself to speak slowly but think quickly

13. When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask. “Why do you want to know?”

14. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk

15. Call a relative

16. Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze

17. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson

18. Follow the three Rs: Respect for self. Responsibility for all your actions

19. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship

20. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it

21. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice

22. Marry a person you love to talk to. As you get older, his/her conversational skills will be even more important

23. Spend some time alone

24. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

25. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer

26. Read more books. Television is no substitute

27. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

28. Trust in God but lock your car

29. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life. Do all you can to create a tranquil, harmonious home

30. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past

31. Don’t just listen to what someone is saying. Listen to why they are saying it.

32. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality

33. Be gentle with the earth

34. Pray or mediate. There’s immeasurable power in it

35. Never interrupt when you are being flattered

36. Mind your own business

37. Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t close his/her eyes when you kiss

38. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before

39. If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. It is wealth’s greatest satisfaction

40. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck

41. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly

42. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other

43. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it

44. Live with the knowledge that your character is your destiny

45. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.