These are 15 I will follow myself in 2012, and hopefully beyond. I invite you to join me on these "Rules." Zi think it would make the world a better place.1- Be Truthful to yourself and others. Yes, it is not politically correct. Does a true friend just tell you whats good about you? Friendship begins with honesty to yourself and others. Trust me, honesty will bring closeness and respect. So, wear the same face all the time because truthfully, you can never fool your friends.2- Go through your list of contacts or address book. If you have not communicated in ANY way with that contact in the past year....erase them. Yes, even if it is me. Unless it is a plumber, mechanic, lawyer, etc... Start the year by surrounding yourself with good people with good intentions. "Give and take" does not mean, "I give and you take." If someone is not putting as much into your relationship as you are, then they are taking a piece of you that someone else may need. If you do this, you will be amazed at how few people are in your contact list. Those are your friends.3- TALK, Do Not Text important issues. An "I'm sorry" or "Please forgive me" text has no feeling because you can not see the person's face. An occassional "I love you" or "I miss You" is ok. The serious matters you must take care of in person. Along with this, do not text someone while you are having a conversation with others. Be polite with the phone. Hang it up when your in line at the store, do not text at the dinner table, when face to face with friends or family, etc....COMMUNICATION is what sets us apart from animals (that and opposable thumbs.) Show respect to the person to whom you are face-to-face with. It will go a long way. Plus, while texting you may miss some very important things in life you can not get back. It can be lonely with no one to talk to.4- Do just one good deed for a stranger or a surprise for a loved one. It can be as simple as holding the door for someone, writing "I love you" on a napkin and putting it in their lunch, or just saying "I like that shirt" to someone who looks "down in the dumps" at the store. Just like road rage, kindness is contageous.5- Always end a phone call, family gathering, gathering with friends, etc..with, "I love you." You may never get the chance again.6- Charity is not always about money. At least once in this upcoming year, do something nice for someone less fortunate. It can be a "Red Kettle" donation or, it can be gathering stuff around the house and donate it, it can be delivering a meal to a neighbor, cutting the grass or shoveling snow, it can be donating time to a homeless shelter, volunteering at a school or library, or it can be just listening to someone who has an issue. I am not saying, "Don't donate money (a good choice may be www.parkinson.org--shameless plug)," but there are other options. You have 525,600 minutes in one year. I think we can all spare 15 to 30 minutes to help those in need.7- Hug your children and tell them you love them many times a day. I always ask my girls, "Are you beautiful? Are you smart?" If they answer "No" to either question, or even delay to answer, we talk about it until it is resolved. There is nothing more important than having your children know they are loved, beautiful/handsome, and smart.8- Forgive and try to forget. If you dwell on the past you will never move forward. Forgive those people and things that you need to in order to move forward. When you forgive, you let go of the past, and forgetting will go with it.9- Money is never made, it is only transferred. People rarely get rich working. Some people just make more money than you, but remember they also spend more than you. You work for a company, they transfer the money money they make to you for the work you have done. You, in turn, transfer it to the bank, the mortage company, the auto loan company, the cable company, the gas company, the electric company, etc... When you look at what you owe, you say to yourself, "How do I get out of this?" The United States National Debt is, as of 1/1/2012, $15,125,898,976,398. You do not see our government sweating. If you owe money, call up the companies and tell them you are having trouble paying them. Don't ignore them, they won't go away.10- Try something you have never done before. It does not matter what, just as ling as it is something you have NEVER done before. 12- Keep your change! I have never been a person to search my pocket for 26 cents when my soda cost $1.26. I always give $2.00 and keep the chsnge, even though I know I have it in my pocket. At the end of the day put all the change in a bucket. If you start today, you WILL NOT have to worry about money for Chritmas presents 360 days from now. Trust me on this, it adds up.13- "The 3 Bucket Rule. If you have children, do this with them. If you don't have children, then do it for your grandchildren or even yourself. Use 3 cans, or boxes, or whatever will hold money. Let your kuds decorate the boxes. On Box 1 write "ME," on Box 2 write "BANK," and on Box 3 write "CHARITY." Each week give your kids an allowance (say $3.00). I know many of you are saying that your kids don't do anything for an allowance. Let me ask you this, "Do you get paid per hour or by how much you do, how fast you are, or how neat your work space is?" I think I proved my point and kids should be treated the same. So, every week you give them $3.00. $1 goes into the ME bucket, which they can spend at any time on what they want. $1 goes into the BANK bucket, which you take them to the bank and open an account for them and they put the book in the bucket when they get home (some banks have kids accounts, just ask). $1 goes into the CHARITY bucket, which at the end of each year they get to pick out what charity they want to donate to. This will give your children the life values of: Spend Wisely, Save Accordingly, and Give Back to those in need. 14- Call your family once a week. I have not been very good at this, but this us the year. Your family is always there for you, whether it be Mom, Dad, Bother, Sister, etc... One of them must like you. Call them.15- "Choose to have a great Day! I say this to my wife and our girls every morning before they go to school. It is a choice, and DO NOT let anyone stand in the way of your choice to HAVE A GREAT DAY!I truly care for the well being of all of you deeply, and may this year be your year. It starts today, don't waste 1 minute of the 525,600 minutes you have this year.Your Friend & Phsrmacist,Mark Best of health,Mark R. Comes R.Ph."Ask The Pharmacist"www.parkinson.org 0
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