Everything I Need to Know I Learned From Winnie the Pooh

I love Winnie the Pooh. I can’t remember when I began loving him. It just seems I always have. As a child, and even as a teenager, I watched the Pooh specials that came on television once a year. Even today, I pick out greeting cards with his lovable little face and squishy tummy. While the more recent drawings of Pooh are fine, I love the vintage illustrations of that huggable little bear and his friends. Tigger may be more exciting, and Roo is cute, Pooh is my favorite.

We could learn a lot from Pooh. He loves unconditionally. He’s humble and devoted. He cherishes his friends, and he doesn’t pretend to be something he isn’t. And while he never thought of himself as very smart, he was wise, very wise. I stumbled upon some Pooh quotes while I was looking up something else, and I saved some of his words of wisdom. For a bear of very little brain, he sure does know how to live.

1. “It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"”

2. “You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”

3. “You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count.”

4. “Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.”

5. “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

6. “When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish.”

7. “Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”

8. “If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”

9. “If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.”

10. “If there ever comes a day when we can't be together keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever.”

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think we all need a little more Pooh in our lives.