Twenty-one steps to making life better

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another Cecil’s World in Print. I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the more I enjoy life. Every day, when I wake up, I realize how blessed I am living in America and having the essential things I need to survive.
There are a lot of things that make life what it is today. You are the sole person who can make it whatever you want it to be. If you decide to be a mean person, people will more than likely be mean and rude to you. A happy person will be met with a friendly face and a smile. You have to make that choice.
I think I am going to give a smile to everyone I meet and hopefully I will receive the same back.
A friend sent me this e-mail, attributed to the Anthony Robbins organization, the other day that provides 21 steps to making life better and I want to share them with you:
1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
3. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
4. When you say, “I love you,” mean it.
5. When you say, “I’m sorry,” look the person in the eye.
6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
7. Believe in love at first sight.
8. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.
9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
11. Don’t judge people by their relatives.
12. Talk slowly but think quickly.
13. When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, “Why do you want to know?”
14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
15. Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze.
16. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
17. Remember the three Rs: Respect for self; respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.
18. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
19. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
21. Spend some time alone.
I don’t care how much you love people, you need time alone to just relax and put your thoughts together.
That’s it for another Cecil’s World in Print. I have to go now and be alone. See you next week, right here in the Morning News and on the tube.

— Cecil Chandler is a veteran reporter at WBTW News13. His column appears Mondays in the Morning News.