I love my work at Happy Living!
For the last fourteen months, I have been preparing an agenda and leading thought-provoking discussions with Privately Inspired People twice a month. This invitation-only group provides an environment full of ideas, encouragement, and support to help one another take inspired action to live our one wild and precious life to its fullest, because…
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Proverbs 27:17
Life Lessons
Our meeting on Thursday, February 8, 2024, focuses on learning and living the lessons of life!
Throughout my book, Turning Inspiration Into Action, I shared the ‘MBG Life Lessons‘ I have drawn from my life experiences. I used my initials to highlight the fact that these are my life lessons and I do not presume that they should apply to you or anyone else. However, as my life lessons are essential tools that continually guide me to the life of my dreams, I felt it was important to share them with my readers. Recently, the story of Madam Jeanne Louise Calment, who had the longest confirmed human lifespan, came unexpectedly to my Facebook feed and captured my attention. I learned that Madam Calment used similar tools that she called Rules of Life that she attributed to her healthy and happy longevity.
Our group will discuss these four aspects of learning and living the lessons of life to create your absolute best life.
- Stay Active
- Remain Positive
- Be Adaptable
- Make Your Own Rules
ONE | Stay Active. Longevity through an active lifestyle: Jeanne Calment’s remarkable lifespan can be attributed, in part, to her active lifestyle. She took up fencing at the age of 85 and continued riding her bike until she reached 100. These physical activities likely contributed to her overall health and well-being. #StayActive #ActiveLifestyle #HealthSpan #KeepMoving
TWO | Remain Positive. A positive attitude towards life: Jeanne Calment maintained a positive outlook on life, even in her later years. She believed in keeping a smile and finding pleasure in the simple things. Her humorous remarks and optimistic perspective highlight the importance of maintaining a positive mindset throughout life. #RemainPositive #PositiveAttitude #Optimism #PositiveMindset
THREE | Be Adaptable. Embracing change and adapting: Despite living for over a century, Jeanne Calment was not resistant to change. She gave up smoking at the age of 117, not for health reasons, but because she didn’t want to rely on others to light her cigarettes. This demonstrates her willingness to adapt and make necessary changes in her life, even at an advanced age. #BeAdaptable #EmbraceChange #GoWithTheFlow #ChangeWithLife
FOUR | Make Your Own Rules For Life. See below for my list of MBG Life Lessons and Madam Calment’s list of Rules For Life. I hope that our “secrets” for Happy Living may help you make your own Rules for Life that’ll continually guide you to the life you were put on this planet to live. #RulesForLife #BestLife #DreamLife #LivingLifeLessons
In preparation for our meetings, I generally recommend that each member ponders over a quote or a few and does a little bit of light homework (reading a blog post or two and sometimes viewing a video, too). This is the prep work for our February 8, 2024 meeting.
PONDERABLES
“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”
Albert Einstein (lived to age 76)
“If I didn’t smoke a cigarette, they wouldn’t know who I was.”
Bette Davis (lived to age 81)
“Exercise is King, nutrition is Queen, put them together and you’ve got a kingdom.”
Jack LaLanne (pictured above… lived to age 96)
“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”
George Burns (lived to age 100)
“Every age has its happiness and troubles.”
Jeanne Calment (top picture… lived to age 122)
HOMEWORK
Reading: Was Jeanne Calment the Oldest Person Who Ever Lived—or a Fraud?
JOIN OUR GROUP
If you want support from a group of Privately Inspired People that you can count on to encourage you and help you along this journey to your best life, please email me directly at [email protected] or write to me in the comment section below.
With love,
Jeanne Louise Calment’s Rules of Life
I’m in love with wine.
All babies are beautiful.
I think I will die of laughter.
I’ve been forgotten by our Good Lord.
I’ve got only one wrinkle, and I’m sitting on it.
I never wear mascara; I laugh until I cry often.
If you can’t change something, don’t worry about it.
Always keep your smile. That’s how I explain my long life.
I see badly, I hear badly, and I feel bad, but everything’s fine.
I have a huge desire to live and a big appetite, especially for sweets.
I have legs of iron, but to tell you the truth, they’re starting to rust and buckle a bit.
I took pleasure when I could. I acted clearly and morally and without regret. I’m very lucky.
Being young is a state of mind, it doesn’t depend on one’s body. I’m actually still a young girl, it’s just that I haven’t looked so good for the past 70 years.
MBG Life Lessons: The Complete Collection (So Far!)
Follow your heart wherever it leads you because it knows where your happiness lies.
Efficiency is doing things right, effectiveness is doing the right things.
All of you are perfect just as you are and you could use a little improvement.
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
I can accomplish anything I set my mind to if I am willing to work long enough and hard enough for it.
I’d rather follow my own dreams and fail than conform to “what I am supposed to do” and succeed.
Your day belongs to another’s dream.
When I have a problem, I take it to the top.
When you want to lead change, clearly demonstrate the benefits of changing to others.
We have within us the power to control our minds or to be controlled by them.
My dreams are mine alone. I cannot presume that others think like me or want what I want.
Be bold and ask for what you want. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Take the risk, act when you’re scared, it’s unlikely that you’ll be eaten today.
It’s hard to distinguish between good luck and bad luck. Many of the highest points in my life have led to low points, and vice versa.
It’s better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
Relationships are as important as financial success to create an enduring business.
If a business idea isn’t good enough to convince others to invest in it, it isn’t good enough.
The way to market a service company is by its leaders becoming known as experts in their industry.
Collective intelligence is always greater than individual intelligence.
Be curious. Ask the next question.
You can’t steer a Jet Ski without power, and you can’t control the fate of a business without voting control.
Go deep into a specialty. Get a customer. Make them happy. Then repeat…
Find work you want to do for the rest of your life, with products and services that can be broadcast to the world, with highly recurring revenue, and near-zero marginal cost.
Pay attention to and act on what attracts you.
Soul Mates exist.
Drop the filters. Go big for what you truly want.
To touch someone’s life is more valuable than any amount of money.
Don’t resist life. Accept it as it is. It’s the only way it can be.
Stress is caused by non-acceptance. Clinging to a notion that things should be different creates damaging stress in the body.
It’s easier to maintain order than to correct disorder.
Live life without arrogance and without apology.
Develop a persistent willingness to say YES to opportunities for self-improvement.
Practice self-improvement as a way of life.
Living in a spiritual place improves the quality of life.
Find the place you want to live for the rest of your life.
Invest in your house to make it your dream home.
People will become “masters” at complex things when they have accrued 10,000 hours of practice.
Look for opportunities to help others by connecting them to people, products, or services that can solve their problems, even when, or perhaps especially when it isn’t self-serving.
Keep doing but stop stressing.
If you want to bring changes into your life, you must make space for them.
The journey of a lifetime takes an entire lifetime.