Your health matters...

Exercise daily and eat healthy. You are given ONE body for this journey on earth. Take care of it. Exercising is not only good for your physical health, it is good for your mental health as well. To me there is nothing sadder than seeing someone pass away from poor health knowing that it was their choices that caused their demise.

  Where can you improve in your exercise regimen? Are you consciously eating healthy? Make steps each day in the direction of health and longevity. It matters.

Pay It Forward every chance you get

Pay It Forward every opportunity you get. Kindness is like a magnet. You give it out and it comes back multiplied when you least expect it.

What can you do to Pay it Forward? Hold a door open for someone behind you, pay for the car behind you in line, bring fresh flowers to a nursing home, offer to run errands for a senior citizen. There are plenty of kind acts you can do each and every day. Do them. It matters.

Live your life with integrity

Live your life with integrity. Be honest while kind and live to the utmost of morals and character.

  Is there an area of your life that you could improve your actions of integrity? Are you being honest? Are you standing up for what you believe in? Are you following the morals and character traits that you value? From today forward, focus on doing you best to live with integrity. It matters.

Make your house a home

Make your house your home. Fill it with items collected, treasures you've found, and anything that pleases you visually, by scent or by sight.

  What could you add to your house to make it feel like home? By the end of this month make it happen. It matters.

Apologizing doesn't mean that you were wrong....

Apologize. Apologize whether your actions were intentional or unintentional. Whether you agree with the other person's feelings on the matter, or not. Life is too short for hurt feelings. Apologizing DOES NOT mean that you were wrong and the other person was right. It means that you value your relationship more than your ego.

  Do you know anyone who is struggling emotionally due to an incident that you were a part of? Whether your actions were intentional or unintentional or even if you have no idea what you did and they are giving you a cold shoulder reach out to them and apologize. (Please don't ruin the apology with an excuse. Simply say "I'm sorry.....") It matters.

Challenge yourself...

Challenge yourself mentally and physically. Doing the same things every day is great for routine, but to really experience life you have to get outside of your comfort zone. Challenge yourself to experiences that will enrich your life and your health.

  What can you do that is mentally challenging? Take a class? Read a novel? Sudoku/Puzzles/Crosswords? How about physically? Exercising? Travel? Losing weight through healthy lifestyle changes? Challenge yourself daily until it is no longer a challenge but a habit. Your life will change for the better.

To live your best life you NEED to have a bucket list.

Keep a "Bucket List". When you write your goals and dreams on paper, it is no longer a wish, but a goal. Once you have a written goal, you can take the steps needed to reach that goal and it will enrich your life immensely. One of my greatest pleasures is traveling. It gives me something to look forward to and the people I meet and the cultures I have been introduced to have enriched my life. “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”

  Grab a piece of paper, a note card, a journal, or whatever you have on hand. Write your bucket list. It can be places you want to visit, books you want to read, food you want to make, career or family goals you want to achieve. The options are limitless. You can do it by category (for example today my husband and I each picked our top five international places we'd like to visit and our top five United States destinations), or just make one long list of your top 50 or 100 experiences. What is important is that you take the time to do it. 

Living your best life means taking the time out to plan and hope and dream and achieve the experiences you choose throughout the time you are here.