A dozen rules to live a better life

Realize that true happiness lies within you.

Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.

Search for the seed of good in every adversity.

Master that principle and you will own a precious shield that will guard you well through the entire darkest valley you must traverse. There is always a seed of good. Find it and prosper.

Guard your fragile life carefully.

Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces.

You will achieve grand dream, a day at a time, so set goals for each day

Set goals for each day that will take you, step by step, toward your rainbow. Remember that you cannot build your pyramid in twenty-four hours. Be patient. Never allow your day to become so cluttered that you neglect your most important goal.

Welcome every morning with a smile.

Look on the new day as another special gift from your Lord, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail.

Live this day as if it will be your last.

Forget yesterday's defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow Each day is a special gift from God, and while life may not always be fair, you must never allow the pains, hurdles, and handicaps of the moment to poison your attitude and plans for yourself and your future.

Let your actions always speak for you.

Let your actions always speak for you, but be forever on guard against the terrible traps of false pride and conceit that can halt your progress. The next time you are tempted to boast, just place your fist in a full pail of water, and when you remove it, the hole remaining will give you a correct measure of your importance.

Build this day on a foundation of pleasant thoughts.

Never fret at any imperfections that you fear may impede your progress. You have the power to achieve any dream by lifting up your thoughts. You can fly when you decide that you can. Let the vision in your heart be in your life's blueprint.

Always reward your long hours of labor and toil in the very best way, surrounded by your family.

Nurture their love carefully, remembering that your children need models, not critics, and your own progress will hasten when you constantly strive to present your best side to your children. And even if you have failed at all else in the eyes of the world, if you have a loving family, you are a success.

Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long.

Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.

Today, and every day deliver more than you are getting paid to do.

The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting out more than is expected in all that you do. Make yourself so valuable in your work that eventually you will become indispensable. Exercise your privilege to go the extra mile, and enjoy all the rewards you receive. You deserve them!

Count your blessings.

Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward the life that God intended for you... with grace, strength, courage, and confidence.