Advice for returning back to school

By Bill Fox/Columnist

While it may be just a few weeks away, I’m hoping that some of this advice may be posted on some students’ lockers or inside teachers’ classrooms.
1. Be a person of good character. Good character is shown by how you treat all people. This includes secretaries, cashiers, custodians, etc. You are no better than anyone else.
2. Care less about what you or anyone else owns. Life isn’t about “things” or “ownership.” We need to care more about how we live.
3. Be a person of integrity by choosing your thoughts and actions based on your values rather than personal gains.
4. Eat more natural foods than manufactured ones.
5. Rather than being afraid of failing (I failed Grades 9 and 10 yet ended up with three university degrees) be afraid that you may give up trying.
6. All great things start out small. Take one step at a time followed by the next one and you will eventually complete every task. Don’t give up.
7. You may be allowed to scream. You may be allowed to cry. You are not allowed to give up.
8. If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you never ask, the answer will always be no. If you don’t move forward, you’ll always be in the same place.
9. Always act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. You do.
10. To be happy, keep trying to get better. Unhappy people in this world have not figured this out: instead of looking within, they’re looking outside and casting blame and judgment. Be curious – not judgmental.
11, You will be happier by trying to make others happy.
12. If you want light to come into your life, you need to stand where it is shining. When it rains, look for rainbows. When it’s dark, look for stars.
13. No relationship is all sunshine. But two people can share an umbrella and survive the storm.
14. It takes nothing to join the crowd. It takes everything to stand alone.
15. If you have the power to make someone happy, do it.
16. You may not be able to change how some people may treat you but you can change how you react to it.
17. Looks are fleeting. When looking for companionship, find the most beautiful mind.
18. Never speak from a place of hate, jealousy, anger, or insecurity. Sometimes silence is the best answer.
19. You are beautiful. Mother Teresa didn’t suck in her cheeks and take selfies all day. She had stuff to do. So do you.
20. Don’t waste your precious time gossiping or regretting the past or in entertaining negative thoughts or in worrying about things beyond your control. Better to convert your energy in that what is positive in the present
21. Make a gratitude list and every night before going to bed, add three things to it.
22. Call your family often and send them messages saying that you are thinking of them.
23. No matter how you feel, get up, get dressed and optimistically start your new day with hope.
24. Don’t miss any opportunity to hug somebody you appreciate.
25. Greet strangers with a smile, and learn to smile while you walk.
26, Realize that all of life is a school and that you are here to learn. Problems are life lessons from which you learn.
27. Try each day to make at least three people smile.
28. Look at the sky at least once a day and realize in what magnificent world you live.
29. Read more books and play more games than last year.
30. Live with the three E’s: Energy Enthusiasm and Empathy.
I’m at bdfox@rogers.com still learning!