Prudent Advice

I'm loving this sweet advice from mother to daughter, found on Babble. Head on over to check out the whole list. These are a few of my favorites.

2
Root for other people.
We all tend to envy other people's successes. It's not intentional; somewhere in our DNA it seems to be programmed that for every success for someone else, there is one less success for us. For every book published, there is one less book we will publish; for every baby had, there is one less baby for us to have. Of course, that is illogical. Fight off those thoughts; there is an unlimited amount of potential for everyone in this universe. Championing others is kind, and even more, it's a display of optimism that will seep into you and color your view of this life.

5
Live alone for a period of time.
I love living with you and your father; I also cherish the years I spent living alone. You shouldn't go from being someone's daughter to someone's wife to someone's mother without first being someone yourself. Living alone will allow you to discover who you are when no one is watching, what you need to get through a day, and ultimately that you are a capable, independent woman.

8
Be where you are.
Try not to think about where you need to go next or wherever you just came from. This is more difficult than it sounds, but work at it. It’s important for your head to be present in the place where your body is.

9
Unless you're playing a game, there’s no point in keeping score.
Running a tally of who gets what in life will only frustrate you and annoy everyone else. It serves no purpose; the way life’s benefits and hindrances are doled out will never make any sense.

13
Create a sense of family wherever you are.
Find people to love and love them unconditionally.

16
Everyone is a hypocrite.
Hypocrisy is not the blanket failure it’s made out to be; we all act in ways that conflict with the image we want to reflect or the values we want to embody. Try not to pigeonhole people with expectations; be forgiving of this inconsistency, both in yourself and in others.

23
The measure of your goodness is not the amount of love you receive.
It is the quality of the love you give to others. It takes a long time to learn this lesson, maybe more time than most of us have.

Excerpted from Prudent Advice, Lessons for My Baby Daughter (A Life List for Every Woman)