I have realized, over many years of teaching, that much of what students remember from our time together is simple little quotes or sayings or stories that touch a nerve at some point in their future.

I know just about every teacher who has been working more than 10 years has had the experience of getting a random phone call or e-mail from a former student with a thank you or recognition for some nugget of information or advice that suddenly makes sense.

Knowing that, I have emphasized various themes for a school year so that I could find quotes, sayings or stories throughout the year that would support the theme.

This year, my theme is Live Simply, Laugh Often, Love Much and Count Your Blessings.

With the economic lethargy continuing, it seems like a good theme to reinforce what matters most.

I thought I would share the thoughts on Living Simply that I have distributed to students and staff as a way of generating a little discussion in your home or school. You can certainly devise a list of your own (and I’ve seen many) to remind you of the actions you can take to live simply, but live well.

Live simply

1. Eat well –It’s a simple principle that what you ingest affects your entire body chemistry. In other words, you are what you eat. To be healthy, physically and mentally, you need to eat regularly and you need to eat good foods. Breakfast is extremely important to your morning mental activity and lunch should be your largest meal for physical energy. Each day have whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean meat, fish or protein substitutes and dairy or calcium substitutes.

2. Get enough sleep – The average teen needs eight to 10 hours per night to function properly the next day. Work back from the time you have to get up to ensure you get what you need. This will affect your mood and mental acuity more than any other factor.

3. Count your blessings – Whatever you think is a crisis right now may be nothing but a distant memory in a week, a month or a year. Adjust your attitude to see the good things that are happening in your life and your whole perspective might change. Life may not always be fair, but it can always be good.

4. Put your family first emotionally – The people who love you want nothing more than to see you happy and successful. Be a positive contributor to a balanced family life. Remember you are not an island and everything you do affects your family. Give and accept support.

5. Put your work first practically – The work you do in school establishes a foundation for your future. Be focused on truly learning the skills to do well, not the strategies to simply get the work done. Do what needs to be done every day.

6. Make good decision-making a habit, even in small things. – Your thoughts drive your actions. Establish a habit of thinking before acting, and choose to do the right thing even in the smallest situations and whether anyone else will ever know or not.

Work Simply

1. Be enthusiastic – In anything you do, give it all you have.

2. Be responsible – You owe it to yourself, and others, to make the right choices and do the right things.

3. Be respectful – Treat others as you wish to be treated, with dignity and respect.

4. Plan to accomplish something positive today – Even the smallest goals, accomplished, build your confidence and move you forward. There is no such thing as an overnight success; success is the progressive realization of realistic, worthwhile, personal goals.

5. Set priorities, do one thing at a time and do it well – Research has shown consistently that multi-tasking does not lead to increased productivity or quality. To do your best, take the 100 per cent attention capability you have and apply it to one thing at a time.

6. Get done what needs to get done – It’s the old Nike saying: Just Do It.

That’s how you keep your workload, and life, balanced and stable. Putting things off lurches you from crisis to crisis and leaves you feeling out of control.

• Graham Hookey is an educator and writer (ghookey@yahoo.com).