I got this idea from the witty & wonderful Kim. I’m afraid my 5 things aren’t nearly as clever as hers, more like old cliches, but I guess that makes me who I am.

Bite your tongue and look for the curve. I can’t tell you how often I follow this. I just had someone comment a week or so ago about how cleverly I disguise my feelings and respond on the backside. If people aren’t paying close attention, a lot of times they may miss my wit all together. I have worked on this discipline for many years now and it is something I am still am perfecting.

PYOB Pick your own battles. I do this with the kids, my family, my hubby and anyone else that is worth engaging. I try not to get sucked into things that are unnecessary or not meaningful. If someone is trying to engage me in a battle and I don’t deem the relationship or the situation as necessary or important, I have a tendency to back off completely. I hate tension and disagreements and avoid them when at all possible.

When I am laying on my deathbed, will this really matter? Is it worth arguing with my 3 year old because he wants to wear his rubber fireman boots with shorts, his favorite cars shirt with chocolate all over it to the grocery store? Nah. Actually, when I am laying on my death bed and my life flashes through my head, this will be something cute to remember. Is arguing with my hubby because he did forgot to pick up milk on his way home? nope. Not in my book. He does plenty good things that matter a lot more, like work to support his family. I want to make the bad things minor and the good things stick out in my mind. I don’t want to dwell or escalate things that don’t really matter. This kind of goes along with the PYOB.

You can’t always get what you want… when my kids are whining because they want something that I have denied them, usually all it takes is the threat of singing this song Parker Bent (song 14) style to get them quiet down real quickly. I sing it to myself sometimes when I start to get upset. Yeah, sad I know.

Lastly, Whatever you do will come back to you. Weu wei. Balance. It may not happen ASAP, but I believe that whatever you give out will come back to you again. I think about this as I make my daily choices. I think finding a balance in life is what this is all about. Respect others and they will respect you. I guess this kind of comes back to the old cliche of “do unto others as you wish to be done unto you.”

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