Seven Things to Remember

I have been a moral maxim maker since about the age of 13.  It was the 1980's and we still had to deal with bullies the old fashioned way: you either knocked them down or demonstrated you were willing to get knocked down before backing down.

It is hard to imagine too many kids these days saying with pre-serum, beat to a pulp, Steve Rogers, "I can do this all day."

My first maxim went something like, "Fear is an emotion; it is not a moral argument."  My point to myself being, fear would never help me understand the right thing to do at any given moment.  It could only tell me how I feel about doing the right thing at any given moment.

Since that time, rules have come and rules have gone.  Some will always be with me.  Others have passed into oblivion.

My current list, none of them in anyway original to me, looks like this

1: Some things are in your control and others are not.  You are not responsible for anything outside of your control.

2:  If the universe is not meeting your expectations, the universe is not the one at fault.

3:  Everything has two handles, but it can only be carried by one.

4:  Being disturbed is a state of mind and my state of mind resides within my control.  No event is disturbing unless I choose to be disturbed by it.

5:  Avoid judgments of either praise or blame: speak the facts.

6:  False beliefs will lead you to inflict harm upon yourself and others.  Give them no quarter.

7:  Expect every one and every thing to act according to their habit.