Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 2, 1 February 2015 — Aids to navigating 2015 [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Aids to navigating 2015

Life is not fair - get over it. The condition that life is not fair is a truth of our existence. We cannot shield ourselves from every circumstance of life-wrenching experiences. You are not the only person to take a hit. Suck it up and move on. For every ehoiee there is a consequence. Your quality

of life is determined by the choices you make. Even not making a ehoiee is a ehoiee. Understand the consequences so you are not surprised by the outcome. As I associate, so I heeome. Hang out with bad people and you heeome a bad person too. Chances are you will heeome like the people you hang around. Piek friends and associates that you want to be like and you will heeome like them. You are who you believe you are. We don't end up being who we are by accident. See yourself as you want to be and then work toward becoming that person - first by believing it. You will live the life of the person you are convinced you are. You have the power to make or break someone's day. We eaeh eommand a tremendous personal power, whieh we ean exercise to either make or break a person's day. We don't think about how mueh power we really have over the way people feel. Try it. Piek someone and think of something you ean do to make

their day. Then do it! Show respect to get respect. Respect does not eome with titles. Respect is earned by showing respect for others. There is no such thing as an unimportant person. We all deserve to be respected for who we are even if we may not agree with others. Helping others succeed

helps you succeed. We sometimes hesitate about helping other people because we often see ourselves as competing with them. Yet, it doesn't really work that way. The more we help others to succeed, the more success will eome our way. We reap what we sow. Help others succeed and you will succeed. This is a life truth. Take a timeout. The world we live in today is on fast-forward. It's like being on a train you can't get off. You need to take a break. Get yourself quieted down with deep breaths. Think of niee things. Smile. A eouple of timeouts a day will lower your blood pressure. Use it or lose it. Young people make the mistake of thinking they will feel and look good forever. Health and physical fitness is a lifestyle ehoiee that can't wait until your body begins to break down. There are body parts you have that require use or they will stop working ! "Use it or lose it" is one of the most profound of universal truths. ■

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