What life lesson did you recently learn or relearn?

Today I remembered the importance of appreciating the small things in life, like being able to have fun. I was baking a rum and raisin cheesecake, and as I progressed with the recipe (whilst doing the usual taste testing every minute) I began to feel… oddly giggly. Turns out I’d made a surprisingly strongly alcoholic cake. I felt dazed and confused but I still had to prepare dinner, but I found the cooking process enjoyably whimsical. I wish every day could have at least one fun moment.

USE A CONDOM. It ended up being a UTI and a laundry-detergent allergic reaction rash, but having used a condom with the Colombian male model would have saved me a lot of stress, fear, and tests.

I have re-learned how awesome it is to have kids. Of course, this happens on an almost daily basis.

I have re-learned how important it is to stay focused during my grad school admissions proc… hey look, SQUIRREL!

That clinging to certain habits, mental and physical cause suffering. To relax and be less perturbed by external stimuli. To let go or at least relax the grip.

People from the internet are not to be trusted.

It’s better to live in the real world than a fantasy one (still trying to learn this.)

@FutureMemory That sounds right, but can I trust you?

I learned that I am the creator of my life and that I take 100% responsibility for all of my life. I learned that I held this view of my father and as a result was blaming him for my lifes hard times. He was very abusive and I made this story about my life which made him responsible for my actions because I was not good enough. After looking at it from an educational process I went through I understood that he couldn’t do anything else because his view of life was the same as mine. He blamed someone else for his actions (his father). So I let it go and I now experience such freedom and joy. I now can create for myself the life I want with all possibilities.

I’m still learning it—my active imagination paired with a deep emotional need leaves me vulnerable to emotional predators. Feign vulnerabiity, and I’m likely to fall fast and hard, only to be mortally wounded when reality when reality sets in.

Nothing is easy. If it is it probably isn’t worth it.

That some people are never going to learn.

I keep getting the message that life is too short in one way or another and you never know when things can “happen”.
I just heard it again Saturday night.;)

The power of forgiveness…

After 20 years of spending more time with machines than humans, it’s pretty darned easy to forget the human factor. For the uber geek, it’s often a bit bitter sweet to be reminded that perhaps they are, in fact, quite human and come complete with the full range of folly that accompanies that condition.

They say patience is a virtue. It has become an absolute necessity in my life. I tend to think and move quickly, but I’m learning to have patience because of those around me.

Took you long enough to answer @Sunny2!!!!!!! (JK :)

Don’t panic. Just see if you can figure it out. There’s enough time.

[I was working on taxes and it showed a hunormous bill. Turned out there were some mutual fund sales that had a 0 cost basis. The software was calculating tax on the entire amount of the sale, not just the amount of increase. Phew!]

I recently re-learned the importance of being assertive in the moment when someone is over stepping boundaries. Speaking up clearly and directly and not allowing negative feelings to build. Always a need for constant attention in this arena.

I see more and more that there is a chance you will go to sleep tonight and possibly wake up dead.That thought helps me keep my priorities straight.

@Cruiser
Plenty of things are easy, and worth it. Like brushing your teeth. It’s just not an achievement if it’s not difficult.

@Fyrius

Mmm..I disagree.

It is possible to ‘achieve’ plenty of things that are not difficult.

If you are doing what you love there is no difficulty in ‘achieving’. ;-)

You can get stuck in a routine or habit that’s neither fun nor productive in any way, like procrastination, and still have a lot of trouble breaking out of it. As long as you have an association of one action with fun and another with negative feelings, you’ll want to keep going the “fun” way, even if it isn’t actually fun, and it gets you into entirely avoidable trouble.
With willpower you can probably force yourself to do the “nasty” thing instead, but a way out with a higher success rate is to hack your brain using rewards and punishments to gradually rebuild its associations.

It works for dolphins, it works for dogs, it works for people. Don’t flatter yourself, we’re just as programmable as they are.
What really sets us apart is that we can program ourselves.

@Coloma
Well, this is an interesting situation. Disagreeing with one person on the left and with another on the right. :P
I can see where @Cruiser is coming from, in the sense that something that takes no effort isn’t really something you can be proud of accomplishing. You can achieve it, of course – it’s easy after all – and you can derive satisfaction from a job well done, but it’s not so much an achievement.
If you leap into the deep end, face impossible odds, struggle valiantly with all your might, succeed against all expectations, and still know where your towel is, then it’s an achievement.

I have a feeling this is mostly a semantic point, though.

I was reminded last night to choose my battles. Walk away from the petty argument to save yourself from an even bigger, more pointless one.

@Fyrius

Heh..stuck in the middle…haha

I am just making mention that not everything is, or has to be, ‘work’, in a sort of sacrificing, push and strive and struggle til you collapse mindset to be considered achieving.

I ‘achieve’ a lovely garden space at my home, while it takes commitment yes, it is mostly a labor of love, therefore no stress or real ‘work’ involved to achieving.

I don’t buy into the ’ no pain no gain’ mantra…I am quite adept at achieving what I want with minimal ‘pain.’ lol

@Coloma
Fair enough.
I certainly wouldn’t discourage you from trying to achieve your goals in the most agreeable way, as long as it doesn’t make you less likely to succeed.
You’re more likely to keep an effort up if it’s not unpleasant, too. That’s more or less what I expounded a few posts back, coincidentally.

And a step to the left again.

Nice to see your dressed up doggy face @Fyrius.)

Didya miss me? :)
I wasn’t gone, just been a little less active lately.

I did, although I haven’t been here quite as much either.

Some people just don’t care. That’s something I continually forget.

@YARNLADY
Haha, yeah, that’s the rub isn’t it?
Sometimes we need a lot of bricks to hit us in the head. lol

If sometimes I can’t even trust myself… Why or how do we keep believing in each other? :(

I’ve learned the importance of being clear about what I do and don’t want from the different relationships in my life.

I relearned this morning when my big dog wakes me up really early in the morning with a really raunchy fart she’s telling me she wants out.

Another thing:
Lower standards = stuff gets done.

I’ve learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just assholes.