Ruminations

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a small book at our second hand resale shop called The Little Book of Christmas Joys - 432 things to do for yourself and others that just might make this the best Christmas ever.  Written and compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr., it's another in the series of "little books" by this same author of Life's Little Instruction Book, Live and Learn and Pass It On and several others.

Anyway.  I decided to save the Christmas Joys book to read closer to the holiday season, maybe right after Thanksgiving.  But seeing this new-to-me book of his caused me to pull my copy of Life's Little Instruction Book off the shelf and page through it as I've done many times before.

Here are a couple/few of the gems he puts forth:

Give to charity all the clothes you

haven't worn during the past three years.

Good gosh.  I have clothes in my closet I haven't worn in the last twenty years.

Why is that?  It makes no sense to keep them when they obviously either don't fit into my current lifestyle or they aren't comfortable enough to wear or I don't like them enough to wear them.

Do you follow this rather sensible seeming rule of thumb when it comes to your clothes?

Don't take good health for granted.

I've had a serious illness, I'm fully recovered and don't think I'll ever, ever, EVER take my good health for granted.  I feel grrreat (said in Tony the Tiger's voice) 99% of the time for which I shall always be grateful.

Have you ever experienced a serious illness or breakdown of your health in your own life?  Did it make you appreciate good health?  (Is that a silly question?)

Don't smoke.

Easy enough to say, but a really tough one for anyone addicted to smoking.

I smoked for somewhere around a year starting with my first year in college (about 75 years ago).  Criminy, the dorm I lived in even had a large, comfortably furnished room on each floor called "The Smoker."

I was fortunate I didn't continue the habit and was never really hooked.  It was more of a way to fit in socially at the time.

Have you ever smoked?  Do you currently smoke?  Have you tried to quit or are you contemplating doing so?

Never give a loved one a gift that 

suggests they need improvement.

I don't think I've ever done this.  (Hoping this is true.)

However, I have received such a gift.  Even now, several years after the fact, I still do a slow burn when I think about it.  Especially since the person gifting me could have benefited from the particular subject of the book more than I!

I know the "gift" was given to me in good faith; I know the giver did not intend to be hurtful or mean.  But still.

Have you ever been guilty of doing such a thing, thinking you were being helpful?  Or have you ever been on the receiving end of such a gift?

End of my ruminations.  I'd love to hear your reactions to these bits of wisdom as put forth by Mr. Brown.