LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE

I received this below in an email today and when you feel down read this through, it kind of puts life into balance and perspective.

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Good advice from someone who knows what she is talking about

Written by a 90 year old

This is something we should all read at least once a week- Make sure you read to the end!

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short enjoy it.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the future.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye, but don't worry, God never blinks.

16.. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to be happy. But it's all up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative of dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all throw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have, not what you want.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Astrid Brown (Author)

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WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES ANOTHER BECOMES AJAR

TO INSPIRE THOSE WHO FEEL A DOOR HAS CLOSED ON THEM

The reason I have taken this story is to inspire others, when everything seems black and there is no future, when you feel that door is closed, it has been closed for good reason, it no longer serves you and something better there is waiting for you. The Universe is kind it knows what is good for us, it knows when we have something important to learn, something we may not realise at the time but if we trust and bear with it, we will come to realise why that particular door had to close. Sometimes when we want something badly enough, it never seems to happen, no matter what we do. It's not that it wont but that it wasn't the right time, the right time for us to appreciate or understand it and that we needed some more "growing time". The idiom "When one door closes another opens" then starts to make sense.

With Jeff here, I feel he was quite happy plodding along playing the same character and he felt his door had closed, I am glad he hung on, for the Universe had something much better in store for him, as it will for those who read this and feel the door has closed on them. Don't ever give up, believe in your dreams and trust the Universe.

'ello 'ello 'ello! The Bill's Reg set for Hollywood stardom after winning best actor award

A former actor from The Bill has won hearts and awards in America.
Jeff Stewart, who played dopey Reg Hollis in ITV's The Bill for 24 years, has won a Best Actor Award at the Manhattan Film Festival.
His new film Under Jakob's Ladder, which also picked up the award for Best Film, has now launched Jeff into Hollywood stardom and he has already been signed up to five other movie projects.

And the winner is... Jeff Stewart, sporting his Zeus-like beard in 2009, has won a Best Actor award for his role in American film, Under Jakob's Ladder

55-year-old Jeff told the Sun: 'When they said, 'The best actor goes to Jeff Stewart' a cold shiver went from the tips of my toes to the top of my head and to the end of my fingers.
'I heard the announcement but it was like, 'Did he really say that?'
'I slowly walked up on stage. I said to the audience, 'This is absolutely extraordinary. This is amazing'. I thanked everyone.
It has been a 'hell of a journey' for Jeff who attempted to commit suicide three and half years ago after being fired from his popular role as PC Reg Hollis on The Bill.

Comeback kid: ex star of The Bill, Jeff, looking unrecognisable from his days of playing Reg Hollis, in London in 2009

After 24 years on the popular ITV1 police show Jeff was told that Reg would be axed in January 2008.
Whilst the actor was also facing difficult times off screen, the news came as  shock and Jeff felt betrayed by the show.
He told the newspaper: 'I felt I had been badly let down.'
After hearing the plans from the shows producers Jeff went back to his dressing room and still dazed by the news he slit his wrists.
As he began to black out he changed his mind and rang the front desk for help.
Luckily he was found in time and was rushed from the studios in Merton, South West London to hospital.

Award winner: Jeff is a star in his own right now and has signed up to four more Hollywood movie projects

'I didn't see a counsellor, it was evident I was OK and I never worried how it would affect my career.
'I thought, 'I have a choice, you can either stagnate or blossom'' he added.
When pictures of Jeff emerged on the internet sporting a full beard, fans presumed he was still suffering depression however, Jeff defended his scruffy appearance as a way to distance himself from the clean shaven Reg with whom he had become synonymous.
He said: 'I didn't cut my hair for three years. It was a thought-out, deliberate choice.
'I thought, 'I have to look as different as possible'.

A distant memory: Jeff as daft PC Reg Hollis in The Bill

The bitter end: PCs Sally Armstrong (Ali Bastian), Benjamin Gayle (Micah Balfour) and Reg Hollis (Jeff Stewart) in a 2007 episode of The Bill

The beard worked, because Jeff made four films with that look and one of those films was the award winning Under Jakob's Ladder.
After auditioning for the film over the telephone, he flew to the states and won the role of Jakob Seel, a German living in 1940s Soviet Russia.
The film, which is about Stalin's secret police in the anti-religous state, was made in 21 days on a small budget of only £200,000 by brothers Robert and Nann Nunoz - the grandsons of real-life Jakob.
The film is now expected to be picked up by a big film studio after it will be shown at the London and Berlin film festivals.

Maggie Brown (Author)

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