Important life lessons from Winnie-the-Pooh

There’s so many important life lessons from Winnie-the-Pooh. Let’s go through them with love in our hearts.

Winnie-the-Pooh was an important fixture in our house growing up. We watched it on television, read the books and loved all the stories. Even in our adult lives we follow Pooh. I have a massive collection of Winnie-the-Pooh stories and poems by AA Milne which I treasure. My mother and I had one favourite poem called ‘halfway up the stairs’ which I once recited at a speech and drama exam. My sister still quotes Eeoyre “oh bother” whenever anything goes wrong. It’s safe to say, we’re big fans of all the animals in the Hundred Acre Wood.

In recent years our love has been reignited with movies like ‘Goodbye, Christopher Robin’ and ‘Christopher Robin’. On a recent long haul flight from Thailand I re-watched the former only to return the following day to see the latter in the cinema; a whole week of Pooh! I did of course see both movies as cinema dates with my mam and sister.

It got me thinking how much we love and learn from this old bear. We learn so many important life lessons from Winnie-the-Pooh, some of which I will illustrate below.

Let ‘today’ be your favourite day is one of my favourite ideas. Practicing mindfulness and allowing every moment and every day be the best ever. No waiting on tomorrow or dreaming of Friday; live for today.

Have fun for and do things for no reason. Don’t always search for a purpose or the meaning gets lost. Simply be silly and have fun and the memories will make themselves. Don’t try so hard.

You cannot create love or make it up. You can’t force it and try to make it stick. Love is love, you FEEL it to know it’s real. There’s no words or descriptions to explain to someone who has never felt it, what love is. However, once you know, you know. I fell in love with by boyfriend the day I met him and because we live so far apart I get to fall in love with him all over again every other weekend.

In such a fast paced world we never take time to think. Sometimes decisions are best not rushed. Maybe you need time out to mull things over a nice cup of tea. Don’t always rush, take some time.

I have this hanging in my kitchen. We’re all guilty of putting ourselves down. For so long people around me told me how strong and brave I am but I never saw it and probably still don’t see it. We are always a lot better than we give ourselves credit for in most situations.

Things may seem dark and bleak but look up and you may find a rainbow; it comes after the rain. No matter how bad you think things are, there is always something bright and beautiful just around the corner. It may even be there already if you look. Always find the little things in life to be happy about and feel grateful for.

If you are tired, take a nap. This also goes for feeling down, stressed, depressed. Maybe you’re really happy but a nap would make things even better. Sometimes you just need to chill!

Overthinking will get you nowhere. Too much time to think is time wasted, keep going and it will work itself out. This also hit me for when my body completely broke down and it took me over a year to start again. Sometimes it is a lot harder to re-start, but eventually you will. It takes time.

It’s the little things that count, always the little things. Find the smallest thing in every day to be happy for and those things will fill up your heart.

Friends are the most important thing in life. Friends make you smile and fill you with joy; just like honey. Make sure to get some friend time in every day and it will fill up each day with laughter and smiles.

Much like the rainbow, always look for sunshine! Look for the brightest thing you can find and focus on it and it will always make you feel better.

This is something I’m learning more and more. Not that long ago, there was never a time I was doing ‘nothing’. I was constantly busy and filled by days with things to do; until I broke and then I couldn’t do anything. Now I really value doing nothing. I don’t often get to do nothing but it’s something I’m introducing more and more of. It’s so very important.

Nothing is impossible! This is such a beautiful thing. You really can do anything you set your mind to. As Denzel Washington says “imagination is God’s way of showing you what is already yours.” If you dream it, you can do it. Remember, doing nothing is ok too!

How beautiful! Even things you look at with disgust have a purpose. Things that society may not deem ‘beautiful’ have beauty. This hits home so much for body dysmorphia too; every single person is a beautiful flower. We are so consumed with this idea of ‘beauty’ that we fail to look at the true beauty in people and in things. Natural beauty, the way God created us. It’s a miracle.

Walk beside me and be my friend; isn’t that what we all need? We’re all on this life journey together and we may not feel up to leading or want to fall behind. Walking through our life journey with friends by our side makes it all the more enjoyable.

Shine your glorious shine and be absolutely you. To quote Dr Suess “there is nobody youer that you” and how wonderful that is. Everyone has their own qualities and quirks, that’s what makes us interesting. Don’t try to be someone else, you were not made that way. Also, don’t try to hide or stifle some things that you do not like about yourself; everyone has their things and that’s what makes us human. I would highly advise doing a Myers Briggs or Enneagram test to find your personality. It will bring up your qualities good and ‘bad’ and it’s a great way to see how EVERYONE has these. Be yourself and love being who you are.

Sometimes we need to talk but sometimes we don’t want to dig deep and evaluate everything. A small gesture to a friend in need like “hey, coffee? lunch? sit in our underwear and watch Netflix?” is sometimes all that’s needed. Keep it simple and be gentle. Of course if someone needs to pour their heart out be there with open ears and open arms.

Remember when we believed in magic and found it in the most simple things? Remember when we believed in ourselves, that we could do anything? We grow into this adult life and fall into the trap of mundane routine and we lose our magic. We forget that  magic exists and we close our eyes to it. However, if we just stop and take some purposeful rest and open our eyes to the world around us, we can start believing in it again. Life will be beautiful once more.

Keep an eye out for what’s in front of you so you don’t trip over needlessly. Life can leave out difficult things to trip you up and this can cause a lot of pain which could be avoided. We also may miss opportunities that are staring us right in the face but when we don’t pay attention, we don’t see them.

This is my favourite quote and is something I have always been very guilty of. I live alone, work alone and tend to spend a lot of time alone. It is a real conscious effort for me to interact with others and I do this by attending fitness classes and visiting friends and family. It is so very easy to sit alone and wonder why nobody comes to you but it’s important to remember how busy everyone is so make an effort to go to them. Arrange coffee and lunch dates, go to fitness classes, join clubs and be around those who love you.

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