Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend and Mother’s day. Here at The Next 50 Years we have been experiencing a spring storm. The storm made a great excuse to relax and enjoy a cozy Sunday indoors. For those of you who read my Mother’s day post, I am happy to report that church was great and I enjoyed my coffee and looking through photo albums. Currently I am watching  Murder, She Wrote courtesy of Netflix as I write.

This weekend during an impromptu stop at a local book store I found a great book for simple advice on how slow down and get our priorities straight in life. Diane Muldrow, an editorial director at Golden Books, has come out with a book of her own: Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book.  In her book, Muldrow uses original illustrations from Golden Books as inspiration for some sage advice to 21st century adults. I was immediately captivated by the cover which sent me straight back to my childhood. As I flipped through the pages I smiled at the illustrations depicting the joys of childhood and read the simple but sound advice on how to re-prioritize our days  to life well.

So what wise advice from Golden Books would I like to share today? Do not panic. today is a new day!  Yesterday with all of the worries, stresses, and unfinished business of the day is gone. Each day we get a brand new chance at life. What are you going to do with 24 hours and a fresh start and set your priorities straight?

Here are some ideas to get your new day started:

• Wake up with a grateful heart.
• Leave the past in the past. Do not dwell on any mistakes or shortcomings from yesterday, last week, last month, or past years.
• Sing and/or dance while going through your morning routine. ( Try to get your news some time other than 1st thing in the morning. While you need to be informed, it is a depressing way to start your day.)
• Have something fun for breakfast.
• Find some time during the day to enjoy some fresh air and clear your mind
• Take a different route to work. Enjoy the new scenery. Practice kindness as you drive and ignore aggressive drivers on the road.
• Go through your day to be prepared and efficient but leave room for spontaneity and be flexible for the unexpected. Be gentle with yourself if you do not get everything done
• .Dare to dream and take your dreams seriously. Make plans to follow your dreams. Great life changes come by take taking the first step.
• Make an effort to uplift the people you encounter throughout the day.
• Be creative throughout the day. Approach the mundane from a different perspective. Creativity is not just for artists and musicians. Think outside the box. It changes the world.
• Take time to show love to the special people in your life.
• Understand that we fall and get back up many times throughout the day. Let anything that did not go as planned or any personal failings  go when you retire at the end of the day. Remember, there is no need to panic. Tomorrow is another day!

I would love to hear from you. Do you have any thoughts on treating each day as a new beginning?  I am glad to be working with you as we work towards focusing on the truly important things in life.

Until next time,

Laura