30 Things I Learned by 30

1. Be careful with dating men who do not have any married/committed male family members or close friends.

2. Never argue with a fool.

3. Treat your body with respect and regard it as a “temple”. Be careful with what and who you let take residence. That includes substances and people.

4. Read everything. The smartest people I know spend more time reading jargon and propaganda than books and theses.

5. Listen to everything. Observation is the cousin of logic.

6. The heart can change the mind but the mind can’t change the heart. The more you fight your natural emotions, the more screwed up your head will be.

7. The supernatural cannot be explained. Therefore, except it without question. This includes Spirituality, Love and the Universe as a whole. Men have tried for years to debunk the supernatural….and it still hasn’t worked.

8. If you are a Christian, read Ecclesaistes, in its entirety, at least once a month. Number 7 will make so much more sense to you and you’ll find stress comical.

9. Do not neglect your family. They may be ratchet but you only get one family.

10. Confront generational curses and work to kill them.

11. Be transparent with those you love and expect the same in return. When there is an issue, get to the root. Cutting the branches won’t help. For example, a friend told me her boyfriend cheated on her and said he did it because he was drunk. I asked her did he wear protection. She said yes. I told her that if he was in the right mind to protect himself, he was also in the right mind to protect her. In the same breath, I told her he is human and we all make mistakes. Remember: Logic with compassion.

12. Spend money of moments, not material. Driving a nice car is nice. Brand name clothes are nice. A luxury vacation with loved ones or a surprise visit to a close friend are moments of investment and concrete memories made. These do not age or go out of style.

13. Learn that some people are best to love from a distance.

14. Love is an action word, a verb not a noun.

15. Never do good with expectation of reciprocity. Expectations are the root of bitterness and hate.

16. Treat your relationships as a covenant with God instead of with that person. God assigns people to you to physically imitate His unconditional love (as much as humanly possible). When your covenant is with Him, you get better results.

17. Always have a plan and some vision of where your next step could or should be.

18. More money. More problems. Its not just a song. Aim for financial independence with comfort.

19. Trust your gut. It’s a God-given barometer of truth.

20. If you pray for only two things: pray for discernment and grace. It goes a long way. It increases good decision making and forgiveness for bad decision making.

21. Friendship is essential to the Soul.

22. Know the layers and finite levels of friendship. Keep a small circle.

23. Strive to be “pure of heart”.

24. Perform at least one act of kindness a month and give back to the community.

25. Good people have to learn and put the “Power of No” into practice. If you don’t, a hell of a lot of people with take advantage of you.

26. Treat yourself but don’t overindulge. Drink and be merry. Laugh and Love as much as your heart can stand.

27. Pay your bills on time. Don’t spend money you don’t have. Don’t invest in anyone or anything that may not be able to maintain. Don’t drive drunk. Don’t text and drive.

28. What other people think of you is none of your business. Live your life so that if someone speaks ill of you, it immediately sounds fabricated.

29. Never negotiate what your spirit needs in order to remain fed and make sure its organic.

30. No one will ever love you like God does or like you love yourself. We make mistakes to further show how perfect He is. Trust that He will never steer you wrong. Go out and LIVE.