We're all in this together.  The whole world, really the whole universe are linked together with all sorts of connections.  Whether you choose to see this as mystic energy flows or as scientifically complex systems, it is real.  What each one of us does can have effects far beyond what we intend or fear or expect or hope.  Nobody can understand the whole of it, or all the subtle ways that all the parts are connected.  But ultimately, it is the connections, the relationships, that matter; more so than the parts themselves for what are they but complex systems of smaller parts in a relationship with each other?  And it is all beautiful!  Oh, sure there are parts that are screwed up and ugly and that need to be changed but they just make the rest of it all the more amazing and precious.

     We all can feel pain, and we all can feel joy.  More often than we usually think, this is a choice on our part.  The thing is, we always have a choice about how we react to anything that happens, even when we can't choose what happens.  Always.  That's a tough concept for most folks to get their mind around, it sure has been for me (and I'm nowhere near all the way there yet), but once you start grasping the idea it will change your life.  This means that we can't, if we're really honest, blame anybody else for what we feel; no one can make you feel anything you don't choose to go along with.  The flipside of this is that we are not responsible for other people's feelings either.  A lot of the stuff we beat on ourselves for just plain ain't our fault.  How others react to us is their choice not our own.  Of course this doesn't mean we get to do whatever we want to people; even if the final responsibility isn't yours you can sure make it easier or harder.  Think about how the other person might feel before you do anything, and feel free to ask them if you care but aren't sure.

     Nothing is forever.  We don't even know for sure that death is forever.  We don't know much of anything about what happens after we die, other than that our bodies turn into fertilizer.  There's no way to prove anything about an afterlife; death just laughs at logic.  You can believe whatever you choose about it and you're just as likely to be right (or wrong) as the next person.  And this doesn't just apply to people; nothing really lasts.  History garbles everything because historians are human.  It's a rare thing that lasts more than a century or two.  It all comes to dust in the end... except not really, because something new always grows up out of the dust. (It's mighty fertile stuff, that dust of history.) The truth is that you and everyone and everything that you love will eventually pass on and be no more.  But hey! Don't let this get you down.  Life is precious; think about it, you might never have been born at all or not lived past your first year.  Each day is a gift.

     Love is real.  OK, I know the 'L' word is a really loaded one, and has all kinds of rival meanings for different people, but everybody agrees that there's something to it.  And I'm not just talking about romantic love, although that's one of the greatest rides in life (not to mention sex, which it generally goes hand in hand with.) Love is like death in that there's no logical understanding or proving of it.  But there's something about the connections we feel with certain people, places, and things that just is like nothing else and can't really be explained in words so I'm going to stop trying.  The only other thing I have to say about love is that you don't have to have a romantic partner in your life to get it.  In fact if you depend only on other people for love you're stupid because there will come a time, no matter how perfect your lover is, that they just won't be able to give you what you need.  The good news is that there's plenty of it floating around, you can find it in pets and trees and flowing streams and in the sun on your face as you doze on the grass and in the stars on a cold clear night, really it's everywhere and I think we all know it on some level even if too many of us have forgotten it consciously.  And don't forget yourself; learning to love oneself is pretty damn hard in this society, but it's beyond worth it.  It frees you from so much of the shit and the fear we all have.  If you know you are loved, you don't have to be as needy, and life is just more fun.  And if you believe in some sort of diety, make sure you choose one that's about love.  Religion shouldn't be about guilt and shame; guilt has its place sometimes, but you should never feel guilty just for needing love.  We all do.

     What goes around comes around.  People, this is real, and is so obvious I'm surprised how many people don't see it.  I sure didn't, for a lot of years.  If you go around gloomy and sour, guess how people are going to treat you?  Even if folks treat you nice, you won't be able to appreciate it.  And if you are happy (or at least reasonably satisfied) then you'll get along better, even when people act like assholes to you it won't hurt as much.

     You've got to take risks.

     Life isn't fair.

     It's always right now.

     This is a work in progress.

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