Me and My...Life Philosophy

Going through old diaries can be in turns a blast and a cringeworthy experience. All that chest-beating angst! The flowery prose! Sometimes you'd think I was Cathy in Wuthering Heights standing atop a (Heath)cliff with the Yorkshire winds blowing up my petticoats while I toss my wild ringlets in a state of bother. Ahem.

The chronicles of my life were first composed when I was 20 and the last entry was made just after I met Partner.

Amongst the few things that I didn't have to read from behind my fingers (due to undue wince-inducing writing), was this entry on 30 June 1994. I was serving my National Service at the time and had been posted to an administrative department. One of my superiors there said something that has stuck with me through all these years. She told me there were 3 principles she lived her life by:

• In life, there is always a choice; even in an imposed environment. We just have to find the avenues.
• Never give yourself a chance to regret. Seize each and every opportunity.
• Always ask if the price is worth paying; get out when it's too high.

Subconsciously I've taken on board this life philosophy and while it sounds quite dour and grandiose, I think it's stood me in good stead. With recent forays into the Law of Attraction, I will add:

• Accept personal responsibility. It's not the government, economy, parents, ex boyfriend, class bully or rude canteen woman. We cannot always control the situation but we can always control our reactions.
• Where we are is where we need to be - when we've learnt what we need to, we move on. When we know better, we do better.

Along with treating your neighbour as you would yourself, eating your greens, and unplugging the iron after you've finished, I think that's a pretty good set of instructions to live by :-)