What principles do you live by?

That was the writing prompt this morning, and, well, normally, I don’t pay any danged attention to the prompts, but this one,,,,,

Be True to yourself!    That one is the biggest and sometimes the hardest one.   If you can’t be true to YOU, who can you be true to?   But there are times where one lies to oneself, to ease the issues of the day.   Say, you are in a bad marriage, but you keep saying, ‘things will get better if I stick it out’,,,   or you have that shitty job and every morning you say “one more paycheck and I can cut loose”    Its all bullshit, and we tell ourselves these things to ease the passage through our personal hells: but it’s not being true to yourself.  Take the time, assess your situation, if things are tough, that may be the best thing to go through, but if things are killing your soul, think about change and honesty.

Honesty is best, but there are times where silence is better.    I run into this daily.    Being honest with others can sometimes create frictions, and those times are where its best to shut your danged mouth.   Don’t create any bullshit, or try to sugarcoat things, just shut your danged mouth.    Maybe you will earn the status of ‘rude M!F!’ or somesuch, but you will also gain respect for being HONEST when it matters most.   Those with half a braincell will hate you, and those with two will see you with respect.

TEACH!!!   You learn your whole life through; sometimes the hard way, other times vicariously through the hardships of others.    Pass what you know on to the younger, so they can find their own, and potentially better ways.   We live on the shoulders of Giants; lift someone onto yours.

(stealing this one from Peterson)  PET THE KITTEHS!   You need to take the time to relax and settle down.   Take the time to pet the kat, or pupper, play silly pit-pat games with the little murder-mittened fluffball.   Your day is not so damned important as to ignore children, two legged or four: take a minute or three and settle down!

READ, WRITE.   The one ‘technology’ that has set us ahead and beyond any other species on this planet is “FATHER TONGUE”,,, Being able to set our words down in ways that carry them PAST our own times, into the future.   Being able to access the words of people 5000 years gone is our biggest strength.    Don’t be so cocksure of yourself and think that reading and writing are lesser skills.   Read, learn, THINK, then write,,,   everything else is just details.

Never assume you know it ALL.   You don’t, period, end of discussion.   I tell my boys all the time “I don’t know what I’m doing; I’m making this shit up as I go along.” ; I’m not always joking,,,   The more I learn, the more I learn I have to learn.   My knowledge is a mere drop in the bucket of whats out there.   (this is where I get upset with ‘experts’; more times than I care to think about where some expert told me ‘x’, but I proved ‘y’.)

ASK!  ask for help, ask before taking, ask for the things you NEED.   That asking may  be in the form of ‘buying’, but you have to ask, first.   When out in the wilds, ASK; mama-nature will hear you, you just have to open your eyes to see what she offers. You are a child of God, just ask.

This one is not a ‘principle’, but I have found it is good tactic in getting through life.   When you are somewhere you don’t really belong, ACT LIKE YOU OWN THE PLACE.   It’s amazing how quickly people will help you when you act as confident as an owner.  Carry yourself with confidence, pitch the voice a bit lower than your normal speaking voice, and PROJECT: people will pay attention.   

more laters,,, kitteh playing with keyboard.