I LIKE TO HELP PEOPLE. THAT’S WHY I AM STILL WRITING THE ENTERPRISE AFTER 17 YEARS.
I hope this edition will be helpful to you, both personally and professionally.
That’s why I wrote Rocketships & Parachutes to help all ages at all career stages. It is my “legacy. PLEASE GO OUT AND BUY COPIES OF THE BOOK FOR EACH OF YOUR ADULT FAMILY MEMBERS—IT WILL BE THE BEST, MOST PRODUCTIVE $20 EACH YOU EVER SPENT.
(Way better than a movie and popcorn and a drink—which also costs about $20)
Here are links to order: Paperback: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-P Kindle: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-PK
THEN ENCOURAGE THEM TO READ IT—SKIM THROUGH IT—DIP INTO IT HERE AND THERE.
THE LESSONS IN IT WILL IMPROVE THEIR LIFE, THEIR CAREER, AND THEIR JOB OR BUSINESS
Here are two Lessons from the book, that stand up pretty well without explanation:
Lesson: Luck is better than skill you just can’t rely on it.
Lesson: If you really need something you’ll pay for it whether you buy it or not.
Here is what one reviewer said about the book:
Rocketships & Parachutes is a GPS for the spirit and the soul. 365 timeless lessons in navigating life’s rollercoaster twists and turns, ups and downs—accumulated through an amazing lifetime of experience, and written as a love letter to life’s weary travelers. I will pass it on to my children as an essential roadmap for their own professional and personal journey. Read it. Remember it. Roll with it. “—Tom Koulopoulos, Chairman, Delphi Group, and author of Revealing the Invisible
NOW ON TO THE TYPICAL TIDBITS IN THE ENTERPRISE
It’s impossible to find a middle of the road path in today's partisan, turbulent, and volatile political and policy environment. One day, one side makes sense. Then it doesn’t. Another day, the opposite position makes sense—until it doesn’t. I guess the only thing that doesn’t make sense to me is the unrelenting negative demagoguery being practiced by Democratic leaders day in and day out, with apparent disregard for how it hurts the country.
Now that I have said that, IF there are any Democrats still reading THE ENTErPRISE, were the Republicans (including me) that bad while Obama was in office? Somehow I wish and hope I can believe the obstructionism was a bad, but the outright hypocritical reversal of previously and publicly stated positions was not as bad as it has been since Trump was elected. The resistance to Obama was severe, but the use of every dirty trick in the book (including by government agencies like the FBI) was nowhere near this bad. The Democratic obstructionism, made worse by some of Trump’s less than wise nominees, and prevented the Trump presidency from even having a reasonable number of appointees fill the seats occupied (still) by Obama sympathizers (and leakers).
Nothing in my lifetime has even approached the Trump Derangement Syndrome, in amount and vehemence of reaction by the mainstream media (MSM) and Democratic opposition. Simply counting negative news stories in MSM compared to positive ones—about inarguably positive events—tells the story. So, I’m not going to add to the rants, as much as I might like to. I’m going to present other credible opinions and useful information about life and work.
Caution: Do not listen or read too much of current events news. Half of it is false, badly biased or wrong, and it’s hard to tell which half. I have a new policy: I do not read long speculative columns or articles about “what might happen” because nobody knows, and I’ve found a good solution. I save the article for a week or two, and it it still seems to make sense reading (some of) it, maybe I will. Usually it is like old food—no longer suitable for safe consumption. Pitch it!
AMIDST ALL THE SPECULATION, THERE ARE SEVERAL THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW AND CONSIDER.
SCOTUS IS NOW RULING ON IMPORTANT ISSUES—TRUMP’S INITIATIVES, STALLED BY THE LOWER COURTS AND ACTIVIST LIBERAL JUDGES—ARE BEING METHODICALLY REVERSED AND BLOWN AWAY.
Here are a few of them.
Supreme Court Upholds Trump Travel Ban
The Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s latest ban on travel to the U.S. by people from several Muslim-majority countries, in a ruling that hands the White House a victory on one of its most central—and controversial—initiatives. The court said Mr. Trump didn’t violate the law last September when he put in place restrictions on U.S. entry by people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld Texas’s maps for its congressional seats and state House of Representative districts, both of which had been thrown out for discriminating against minority voters, ruling 5-4 that the Republican-controlled Legislature’s good faith in adopting the lines should be presumed.In a separate action Monday indicating a reluctance to tinker with election lines drawn for partisan reasons, the court declined for now to consider a broad challenge to North Carolina’s congressional map, which the state’s GOP-run legislature drew to produce lopsided victories for Republican candidates.
Supreme Court rules against labor unions
A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public employee unions cannot force workers against their will to pay union dues that are used by the union to finance the costs of collective bargaining with state and local governments.
DROWNING IN DEBT—LOTS OF SOURCES REPORTING ON IT.
Here are a few of them.
Supreme Court Upholds Trump Travel Ban
The Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s latest ban on travel to the U.S. by people from several Muslim-majority countries, in a ruling that hands the White House a victory on one of its most central—and controversial—initiatives. The court said Mr. Trump didn’t violate the law last September when he put in place restrictions on U.S. entry by people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld Texas’s maps for its congressional seats and state House of Representative districts, both of which had been thrown out for discriminating against minority voters, ruling 5-4 that the Republican-controlled Legislature’s good faith in adopting the lines should be presumed.In a separate action Monday indicating a reluctance to tinker with election lines drawn for partisan reasons, the court declined for now to consider a broad challenge to North Carolina’s congressional map, which the state’s GOP-run legislature drew to produce lopsided victories for Republican candidates.
Supreme Court rules against labor unions
A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public employee unions cannot force workers against their will to pay union dues that are used by the union to finance the costs of collective bargaining with state and local governments.
DROWNING IN DEBT—LOTS OF SOURCES REPORTING ON IT.
Where: Student Loans—$1.4 Trillion, State and Local Pension Plans—$6 Trillion, Federal State—$22 Trillion and Local —$3 Trillion Debt, and nothing is being done to reduce these. Of course no politician dares suggest that we cut back on Social Security to keep it solvent. No politician seems to understand or know what to do about the fact that there is 10-20% of fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid ($50 Billion plus) annually.
If you add up all the debt around, the number gets to astronomically large that it is incomprehensible.
HOW MUCH IS JUST ONE TRILLION TO PAY BACK
To pay back one million dollars, at a rate of one dollar per second, would take you 11.5 days. To pay back one billion dollars, at a rate of one dollar per second, would take you 32 years. To pay back one trillion dollars, at a rate of one dollar per second, would take you 31,688 years. How high would taxes need to go? YOU DON’T EVEN WANT TO KNOW THE ANSWER.
Finally, it appears the concept of fiscal responsibility is one that is understood by the masses, but not by the upper classes and elected officials who run our government. When you run into an unexpected expense at home, or in your small business, you look for other places to cut back to cover it. Only if you can’t do that, do you resort to increasing your debt load further. Not in the government!
What about the interest paid on the Federal debt: $300+ Billion each year? The interest on the national debt is how much the federal government pays on outstanding public debt. How it's calculated, causes, 2008-2027, impact. Want to read more?
DEMOGRAPHICS ARE DESTINY: LOOK AT THE POPULATION EXHIBIT BELOW TO SEE HOW THE BULGES OF THE BABY BOOMERS AND MILLENNIALS IMPACT AMERICAN POPULATION AND FUTURE COSTS/DEBTS.
FYI: By 2030 we will be down to 2.30 working people for each retiree in Social Security. Somebody needs to figure out that the “retirement age” must be edged further upward toward age 70 over the next decade.
The US Birth rate has dropped below the “replacement rate" of 2.1 births per family—to keep population stable (and earning)—and is stuck at 1.7. Only the influx of immigrants is adding new population and increasing the birth rate. How’s that for a Catch-22…we must support the immigrants and help them assimilate safely, so they can work to support our aging population. This is a problem shared with Europe and Japan (which have still lower birth rates). Now even China’s birth rate is dropping too, while its population is aging too.
US POPULATION BY AGE AND GENDER
READ THE OP ED PIECE BY JAY AMBROSE BELOW:
Column: Liberals pose greater danger than Trump
I am not a Republican, I did not vote for Donald Trump. I castigated him during the primaries,
focused more on the outlandish alternative during the general election, but still hold him in low
regard. The tweets, the mostly ignorant, buffoonish tweets, sum up the worst of him in my
opinion, but what I wrote after the election was that we should give him a chance.
The opposite has occurred.
Not only have critics overstated almost every flub he has made, governmental officials in the
executive and judicial branches have shoved aside rule of law through felonious leaks, phony
decisions and much more in trying to get him no matter what. Through such means, the left has
illustrated repeatedly why it is twice the danger to our republic than he is.
It has in fact been a danger for some time. Consider the limp argument about Trump’s supposed
autocracy and then compare him to President Barack Obama. To the extent Trump is a tyrant, it’s
mostly in what he says, not what he does, as in references to “fake news” supposedly ruinous to our
press.
Obama was a man of action. His administration actually spied on reporters. It threatened them
with jail if they did not reveal sources. It set a record in refusing to release government information
requested by citizens. And his verbal jabs at Fox News were just as vicious as Trump’s jabs at the
New York Times and CNN.
Other examples of Obama autocracy?
His administration set records for major, costly regulations that stymie business and reduce your
freedoms even if some do some good. His Clean Power Plan would have dictated to states that they
had to get rid of certain laws. His education department told colleges and universities they must
abandon due process for any male accused of sexual harassment. He granted legal status to illegal
immigrants after saying some 20 times it would be unconstitutional to do so. He unilaterally
rewrote laws. He refused to enforce others.
He also skipped the constitutional requirement of having the Senate vote on treaties, thereby
making them mere executive orders that Trump could reverse, and fortunately has in the case of
Iran. As sure as anything, an enriched Iran is still pursuing nuclear armament and Middle East
hegemony. The Obama philosophy was to ask for little, to get less and then to declare the United
States a winner.
Trump is said to have done nothing good, but, even with its faults, the GOP tax reform was maybe
the single biggest gift to working- and middle-class Americans in decades, and that includes
minorities. After the worst recovery since World War II, much had been trending in the right
direction, but here was a mighty push we would not have had under Hillary Clinton.
At the same time, I do believe Trump’s international trade games could be economically ruinous
and his casualness about the debt is enough to make one shiver. I believe in border security but
think the idea of a wall is overkill.
Trump can still be less a threat than the Democrats and I defend him when I think he is, thereby
earning downright trashy, hateful emails along with a few thoughtful ones. Even many of the
supposed intellectuals out there seem to think any defense of Trump at all puts you in a basket of
deplorables.
All of this along with what we see from activists pretty well sums up how many Trump opponents
are dogmatically sure of themselves, as shorn of norms as he is and disrespectful of their national
inheritance. Following good luck in midterm elections and his impeachment, the hope is to enforce
more semi-socialist, liberty-imperiling central planning.
They make me want to defend Trump all the more.
Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service.
[email protected]
READ THE STATEMENT BY TRUMP’S LEGAL TEAM
The Trump Team's Chilling Message to Mueller By Ruth Marcus June 04, 2018
Trump.For months we've heard President Trump's TV lawyers, as he calls them, bandy about the argument that he -- or any president, for that matter -- couldn't have obstructed justice because justice is what he says it is. In other words, that because, they claim, a president possesses absolute power to cut short a criminal investigation, he cannot by definition be guilty of obstructing it. Or, in the famous Nixonian formulation, as Richard M. Nixon told David Frost, "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” But as much as the president's legal team foreshadowed this contention, it was nonetheless breathtaking to see it spelled out, in black and white, in a letter from Trump's legal team to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
"A President can also order the termination of an investigation by the Justice Department or FBI at any time and for any reason," the lawyers, John Dowd and Jay Sekulow, wrote in the January letter, obtained by the New York Times. "Such an action obviously has an impact on the investigation, but that is simply an effect of the President's lawful exercise of his constitutional power and cannot constitute obstruction of justice."
At any time and for any reason. The precise context involved the president's discussion with then-FBI Director James B. Comey in which, according to Comey's testimony, Trump cleared the Oval Office of other witnesses before discussing his just-fired national security adviser, Michael Flynn. According to Comey, Trump expressed his "hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.” The letter disputes Comey's version of events but says it wouldn't matter if Trump had made those statements. And then, in a magnificently gaslighting move, the letter claims that Trump is actually the hero of any obstruction story, because he fired Flynn: "Far, far, from obstructing justice, the only individual in the entire Flynn story that ensured swift justice was the President."
Of course the president oversees the executive branch, including the Justice Department. Of course he gets to set broad contours of policy. But there is a long and wise tradition of presidential reticence to interfere in individual criminal matters -- no less in a criminal matter that affects himself. And the notion that the president could peremptorily call off any prosecution for any reason whatsoever -- no matter how corrupt -- would be laughable if it weren't so scary. As Daniel Hemel and Eric Posner write in the California Law Review, "No one thinks that … the president should be able to commit a crime and then call off the investigation of it. What if he murdered his valet?"
That is a fanciful hypothetical, but the more reality-based one also underscores the extreme nature of the Trump lawyers' claim. "It is obvious enough that it would be wrong for the president to order spurious investigations of his political opponents in order to harass them," Hemel and Posner write. "But it would seem to follow that the president should not call off investigations of his political aides and allies (and of himself) in order to protect them (and himself) from legal jeopardy. If he could, then he or his aides could engage in criminal activity in order to harass their political opponents -- as the Watergate burglary, a spy operation against the Democratic National Committee, illustrates -- without fear of legal liability."
Indeed, during Watergate, the articles of impeachment against Nixon included the charge that he obstructed justice by "interfering or endeavoring to interfere with the conduct of investigations by the Department of Justice of the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the office of Watergate Special Prosecution Force, and Congressional Committees.” At any time and for any reason. The context was Comey, but the implications are chilling: that Trump asserts the right to terminate the Russia probe altogether. Or the investigation into his lawyer Michael Cohen. This is a scary vision of the power entrusted to any president, but especially this one. (c) 2018, Washington Post Writers Group
I AM SENDING YOU THIS PIECE. IF YOU ARE NOT OVER 65, IT’S STILL WORTH READING, BECAUSE SOONER OR LATER (HOPEFULLY) YOU WILL GET THERE (OR MAYBE YOUR PARENTS OR GRANDPARENTS WILL LIKE IT TOO.)
The advice is good for all of us…older or not so old.
Many of us are "between 65 and what comes next,”— i.e. old (or getting there). My friend sent me this excellent list for aging and I have to agree it's good advice to follow.
1. It’s time to use the money you saved up. Use it and enjoy it. Don’t just keep it for those who may have no notion of the sacrifices you made to get it. Remember there is nothing more dangerous than a son or daughter-in-law with big ideas for your hard-earned capital. Warning: This is also a bad time for investments, even if it seems wonderful or fool-proof. They only bring problems and worries. This is a time for you to enjoy some peace and quiet.
2. Stop worrying about the financial situation of your children and grandchildren, and don’t feel bad spending your money on yourself. You’ve taken care of them for many years, and you’ve taught them what you could. You gave them an education, food, shelter and support. The responsibility is now theirs to earn their own money.
*3. Keep a healthy life, without great physical effort. Do moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well and get your sleep. It’s easy to become sick, and it gets harder to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs. Keep in touch with your doctor, do tests even when you’re feeling well. Stay informed.
*4. Always buy the best, most beautiful items for your significant other. The key goal is to enjoy your money with your partner. One day one of you will miss the other, and the money will not provide any comfort then, enjoy it together.
*5. Don’t stress over the little things. You’ve already overcome so much in your life. You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don’t let the past drag you down and don’t let the future frighten you. Feel good in the now. Small issues will soon be forgotten.
*6. Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love your partner, love life, love your family, love your neighbor and remember: “A man is not old as long as he has intelligence and affection.”
*7. Be proud, both inside and out. Don’t stop going to your hair salon or barber, do your nails, go to the dermatologist and the dentist, keep your perfumes and creams well stocked. When you are well-maintained on the outside, it seeps in, making you feel proud and strong.
*8. Don’t lose sight of fashion trends for your age, but keep your own sense of style. There’s nothing worse than an older person trying to wear the current fashion among youngsters. You’ve developed your own sense of what looks good on you – keep it and be proud of it. It’s part of who you are.
*9. ALWAYS stay up-to-date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active email account and try to use some of those social networks. You’ll be surprised what old friends you’ll meet. Keeping in touch with what is going on and with the people you know is important at any age.
10. Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideals as you, but they are the future, and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism, and try to remind them that yesterday’s wisdom still applies today.
11. Never use the phrase: “In my time.” Your time is now. As long as you’re alive, you are part of this time. You may have been younger, but you are still you now, having fun and enjoying life.
12. Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people, it’ll rub off on you and your days will seem that much better. Spending your time with bitter people will make you older and harder to be around.
13. Do not surrender to the temptation of living with your children or grandchildren (if you have a financial choice, that is). Sure, being surrounded by family sounds great, but we all need our privacy. They need theirs and you need yours. If you’ve lost your partner (our deepest condolences), then find a person to move in with you and help out. Even then, do so only if you feel you really need the help or do not want to live alone.
14. Don’t abandon your hobbies. If you don’t have any, make new ones. You can travel, hike, cook, read, dance. You can adopt a cat or a dog, grow a garden, play cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, golf. You can paint, volunteer or just collect certain items. Find something you like and spend some real time having fun with it.
15. Even if you don’t feel like it, try to accept invitations. Baptisms, graduations, birthdays, weddings, conferences. Try to go. Get out of the house, meet people you haven’t seen in a while, experience something new (or something old). But don’t get upset when you’re not invited. Some events are limited by resources, and not everyone can be hosted. The important thing is to leave the house from time to time. Go to museums, go walk through a field. Get out there.
*16. Be a conversationalist. Talk less and listen more. Some people go on and on about the past, not caring if their listeners are really interested. That’s a great way of reducing their desire to speak with you. Listen first and answer questions, but don’t go off into long stories unless asked to. Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much unless you really need to. Try to accept situations as they are. Everyone is going through the same things, and people have a low tolerance for hearing complaints. Always find some good things to say as well.
17. Pain and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as a part of the cycle of life we’re all going through. Try to minimize them in your mind. They are not who you are, they are something that life added to you. If they become your entire focus, you lose sight of the person you used to be.
*18. If you’ve been offended by someone – forgive them. If you’ve offended someone - apologize. Don’t drag around resentment with you. It only serves to make you sad and bitter. It doesn’t matter who was right. Someone once said: “Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Don’t take that poison. Forgive, forget and move on with your life.
*19. If you have a strong belief, savor it. But don’t waste your time trying to convince others. They will make their own choices no matter what you tell them, and it will only bring you frustration. Live your faith and set an example. Live true to your beliefs and let that memory sway them.
*20. Laugh. Laugh A LOT. Laugh at everything. Remember, you are one of the lucky ones. You managed to have a life, a long one. Many never get to this age, never get to experience a full life. But you did. So what’s not to laugh about? Find the humor in your situation.
*21. Take no notice of what others say about you and even less notice of what they might be thinking. They’ll do it anyway, and you should have pride in yourself and what you’ve achieved. Let them talk and don’t worry. They have no idea about your history, your memories and the life you’ve lived so far. There’s still much to be written, so get busy writing and don’t waste time thinking about what others might think. Now is the time to be at rest, at peace and as happy as you can be!
REMEMBER: “Life is too short to drink bad wine.” “if we don’t go first class our kids will. Have a good day!
I’ll add my own: Don’t worry about what other people say or think about you and what you say and do because "those who matter don’t mind and those who mind, don’t matter.” Friends are friends through thick and thin, good times and bad—and most of all in bad times.
THAT’S ALL FOR THIS EDITION.
JOHN
PS: That’s why Mr. Rogers always closed with “…will you be my friend?”
New book is out!
Many of us are "between 65 and what comes next,”— i.e. old (or getting there). My friend sent me this excellent list for aging and I have to agree it's good advice to follow.
1. It’s time to use the money you saved up. Use it and enjoy it. Don’t just keep it for those who may have no notion of the sacrifices you made to get it. Remember there is nothing more dangerous than a son or daughter-in-law with big ideas for your hard-earned capital. Warning: This is also a bad time for investments, even if it seems wonderful or fool-proof. They only bring problems and worries. This is a time for you to enjoy some peace and quiet.
2. Stop worrying about the financial situation of your children and grandchildren, and don’t feel bad spending your money on yourself. You’ve taken care of them for many years, and you’ve taught them what you could. You gave them an education, food, shelter and support. The responsibility is now theirs to earn their own money.
*3. Keep a healthy life, without great physical effort. Do moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well and get your sleep. It’s easy to become sick, and it gets harder to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs. Keep in touch with your doctor, do tests even when you’re feeling well. Stay informed.
*4. Always buy the best, most beautiful items for your significant other. The key goal is to enjoy your money with your partner. One day one of you will miss the other, and the money will not provide any comfort then, enjoy it together.
*5. Don’t stress over the little things. You’ve already overcome so much in your life. You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don’t let the past drag you down and don’t let the future frighten you. Feel good in the now. Small issues will soon be forgotten.
*6. Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love your partner, love life, love your family, love your neighbor and remember: “A man is not old as long as he has intelligence and affection.”
*7. Be proud, both inside and out. Don’t stop going to your hair salon or barber, do your nails, go to the dermatologist and the dentist, keep your perfumes and creams well stocked. When you are well-maintained on the outside, it seeps in, making you feel proud and strong.
*8. Don’t lose sight of fashion trends for your age, but keep your own sense of style. There’s nothing worse than an older person trying to wear the current fashion among youngsters. You’ve developed your own sense of what looks good on you – keep it and be proud of it. It’s part of who you are.
*9. ALWAYS stay up-to-date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active email account and try to use some of those social networks. You’ll be surprised what old friends you’ll meet. Keeping in touch with what is going on and with the people you know is important at any age.
10. Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideals as you, but they are the future, and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism, and try to remind them that yesterday’s wisdom still applies today.
11. Never use the phrase: “In my time.” Your time is now. As long as you’re alive, you are part of this time. You may have been younger, but you are still you now, having fun and enjoying life.
12. Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people, it’ll rub off on you and your days will seem that much better. Spending your time with bitter people will make you older and harder to be around.
13. Do not surrender to the temptation of living with your children or grandchildren (if you have a financial choice, that is). Sure, being surrounded by family sounds great, but we all need our privacy. They need theirs and you need yours. If you’ve lost your partner (our deepest condolences), then find a person to move in with you and help out. Even then, do so only if you feel you really need the help or do not want to live alone.
14. Don’t abandon your hobbies. If you don’t have any, make new ones. You can travel, hike, cook, read, dance. You can adopt a cat or a dog, grow a garden, play cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, golf. You can paint, volunteer or just collect certain items. Find something you like and spend some real time having fun with it.
15. Even if you don’t feel like it, try to accept invitations. Baptisms, graduations, birthdays, weddings, conferences. Try to go. Get out of the house, meet people you haven’t seen in a while, experience something new (or something old). But don’t get upset when you’re not invited. Some events are limited by resources, and not everyone can be hosted. The important thing is to leave the house from time to time. Go to museums, go walk through a field. Get out there.
*16. Be a conversationalist. Talk less and listen more. Some people go on and on about the past, not caring if their listeners are really interested. That’s a great way of reducing their desire to speak with you. Listen first and answer questions, but don’t go off into long stories unless asked to. Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much unless you really need to. Try to accept situations as they are. Everyone is going through the same things, and people have a low tolerance for hearing complaints. Always find some good things to say as well.
17. Pain and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as a part of the cycle of life we’re all going through. Try to minimize them in your mind. They are not who you are, they are something that life added to you. If they become your entire focus, you lose sight of the person you used to be.
*18. If you’ve been offended by someone – forgive them. If you’ve offended someone - apologize. Don’t drag around resentment with you. It only serves to make you sad and bitter. It doesn’t matter who was right. Someone once said: “Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Don’t take that poison. Forgive, forget and move on with your life.
*19. If you have a strong belief, savor it. But don’t waste your time trying to convince others. They will make their own choices no matter what you tell them, and it will only bring you frustration. Live your faith and set an example. Live true to your beliefs and let that memory sway them.
*20. Laugh. Laugh A LOT. Laugh at everything. Remember, you are one of the lucky ones. You managed to have a life, a long one. Many never get to this age, never get to experience a full life. But you did. So what’s not to laugh about? Find the humor in your situation.
*21. Take no notice of what others say about you and even less notice of what they might be thinking. They’ll do it anyway, and you should have pride in yourself and what you’ve achieved. Let them talk and don’t worry. They have no idea about your history, your memories and the life you’ve lived so far. There’s still much to be written, so get busy writing and don’t waste time thinking about what others might think. Now is the time to be at rest, at peace and as happy as you can be!
REMEMBER: “Life is too short to drink bad wine.” “if we don’t go first class our kids will. Have a good day!
I’ll add my own: Don’t worry about what other people say or think about you and what you say and do because "those who matter don’t mind and those who mind, don’t matter.” Friends are friends through thick and thin, good times and bad—and most of all in bad times.
THAT’S ALL FOR THIS EDITION.
JOHN
PS: That’s why Mr. Rogers always closed with “…will you be my friend?”
New book is out!
ROCKETSHIPS & PARACHUTES—365 Lessons to launch and land your career available on amazon.
See more at: www.mariotti.net Here are links to order:
Paperback: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-P
Kindle: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-PK
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