MEME | What Do I Know

Took this from Stefanie. I'm supposed to list 10 pearls of wisdom. Let's see if I can make up 10...

1. There will always be someone born smarter and more talented than you. You have no choice in this. But talent is only potential. It's how you work with the gifts that you have that really matters. Hard and discipline - these are things we can control.
2. No matter how much we love somebody, we cannot live their lives for them. They need to make their own choices, their own mistakes.
3. Forgiveness is an act of grace. We can try to be worthy of it - but it comes in its own time, not because we will it - and sometimes, when we do not deserve it.
4. I decided a long time ago that we are never going to make perfect decisions. Mistakes will be inevitable. But I prefer to own my mistakes - I do not want to regret later in life that I allowed someone else to make the choices for me.
5. True patience comes from a place of love. It took me 30 years before I realize this is what my mother has been trying to teach me.
6. It's okay to be afraid. Fear doesn't have to stop you from trying though. This is the real test of courage - that we continue to try in spite of our fears.
7. The Dalai Lama said, "My religion is compassion." This is the only religion I can believe in.
8. There is always a choice. It's just that often we do not like the alternative, so we pretend we were forced into bad choices, when really, we just chose the easier way.
9. It is important to have friends that share your interests and values - most of all, we need friends who are willing to disagree with us, who are willing to tell us we are wrong and behaving stupidly. My best friends are the ones who love me enough to tell me when I am being pig-head, arrogant and down-right ridiculous. It has been very bruising for the ego.
10. I am as greedy, selfish and flawed as everyone else. But I do not have to give in to these baser instincts. I can choose to behave better.