Life Advice!

by Marc London
(Irishtown, NB ,Canada)

This is my pre-planned funeral address. It's made up of life advice quotes that I’ve heard from others, read, or thought of myself. I've been collecting them since I was 25 years old. What began as a result of a relationship break-up has sustained me ever since.

When my time arrives a family member will read them at my funeral. It's my hope the words my family and friends hear will inspire and uplift them. Perhaps too, they will help them to make positive changes in their lives.

As I've said to my eldest daughter, if you can live by my Life Advice and have God as your co-pilot you’ll do OK.

To all the people who have come into my life I thank you, and I apologize to those whom I have hurt in some manner.

This is a few minutes long, however worth every bit of listening to (or reading). It’s a reflection on all the important aspects of my life and probably, if you think about it, most of yours too.

Please enjoy this celebration of my life. Thanks.
Marc

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, love who you are.

The rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense it now.

The first thing I’ve learned is that we should be glad that God doesn’t give us everything we ask for.

We do not remember days , we remember MOMENTS!

To realize the value of a friend or family member: LOSE ONE.

Be Thankful and do not regret growing old. It’s a privilege denied to many!

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.

Enjoy life on earth. It does have an expiration date!

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh never mind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you!

Sing

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, and don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss – Your mouth will thank you.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

In a relationship/marriage, I’ve learned no one stays
the same for a lifetime. So the person you’ve become, has to keep falling in love with the person they've become.

Stretch

A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the Fact!

When you love someone, you love the whole person, just
as he or she is, and not as you would like them to be.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Your bones will need it!

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,
maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself
either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few, you should hold on to.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Never have too much pride. Pride can work with you or against you.

Believe in yourself, you control your own destination in life.

To understand your parents' love, you must raise children yourself.

Never be too proud to say you're sorry. More families would be together today if they could remember this one statement alone.

I’ve wondered this. Is it worse to forgive and then forget, or to forget to forgive?
Un-forgiveness does a great deal more damage to the vessel in which it is stored than to the object on which it is poured. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.

Have empathy towards people.

Hey, make sure you check in once in awhile to see you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy!

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

And I’ll tell you this. Money $$, doesn't buy class.

Interesting thought. You know we do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

We usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things In life we did not do as we get older.

Always tell the truth. Truth fears no trial. Lying is the most simple form of self-defense.

You know, sometimes we are so caught up in who's right and who’s wrong that we forget what's right and wrong. Sometimes we just don’t realize what real friendship means until it is too late. Think before you speak.

Trouble is part of your life — if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you a chance to love you enough.

Rejection. Rejection doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough; it means the other person has failed to notice what you have to offer.

Disappointments are not meant to destroy you. They are meant to strengthen YOU!

In my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no more of it than we had earned. You are your own maker.

Never say anything to someone that you can’t take back. Spiteful words hurt your feelings but silence breaks your heart.

Read – Knowledge is the greatest power of all. Aspire to inspire before you expire!

You have to laugh and find humor every day.

You’ve got to have a DREAM. When you lose your dreams, you die.

The only people who fear death are those with
regrets. Have no regrets!

Be Cognizant of Time and all that you want to do with it. Enjoy life as it comes. Don’t wait till you retire to figure this out.

Remember that your spouse, children, religion, family and close friends are the chain to your Anchor. Never take anyone for granted.

Smile

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

Treasure every moment you have. You will treasure it even more when you can share it with someone special.

When you stop and think of everything, it’s truly amazing that the best things in life are Free. Everything else is just STUFF!

I’ve learned there’s always a reason you meet people. Either you need them to change your life or you’re the one who will change theirs!

With Love you have everything, without it you have nothing!

More than anything, Love is not who you can see yourself with, it’s who you can’t see yourself without!

True love does not come by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

Keep your loved one close to your heart because one day you may wake up and realize you’ve lost a diamond while you where too busy collecting a stone.

Tell your spouse you love them every day. Too many people today are degenerates who take love for granted. Don’t cry over someone who won’t cry for you.

Believe this; there is a soul mate for each of us, don’t let yourself settle for less. You need to find the one person in this world who will make you say this :I love my life because it gave me you. I love you because you are my Life!

No one falls in love by choice, it is by CHANCE. No one stays in love by chance, it is by WORK. And no one falls out of love by chance, it is by CHOICE.

In CLOSING...
As in life, don't cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others!

To my soul mate, and the love of my life Janet, my kids Payton, Nevaeh, Hope, Draedyn, Taylor and family and friends, I will see you again one day.

Farewell for now!

Love Marc