In commemoration of my approaching Bday- (37 yrs soon, yuck!) thought I'd 'codify' just a few of the 'life-things' I think I've learned... :)

(not men, not cleaning, not cooking, not organizing, not effectively 'multitasking', oh well :)):

1. Most people think the measure of a person's kindness/ nobility is to be found by how they act at the start, or in the middle of things: the beginnings or maybe middle of relationships, where there's (initially, or still) something to be gained. It's not. It is easy to be kind, after all, where self-interest is involved. The true test of a person's nobility is generally to be found at the 'end of things', or where nothing (obvious at any rate) is to be gained....breakups, for example.
 
2. People often look to others for advice on how to act/ behave in difficult situations, thinking there's only maybe 1 or 2 ways to respond.

This can be useful...or not. For every 1 or 2 ways most people imagine are the only 'possible' ways (& generally accepted/ 'conventional' ways) to respond, there's generally (at least) a 3rd way. Thnk it over: take your own counsel. Often, it is smart to find--and take--that 3rd way.

3. When offered an opportunity to do someone a kindness--particularly if it involves little or no financial cost, & relatively little sacrifice to oneself--take it. An opportunity to do a kindness is, in itself, a gift. & the returns are frequently as unexpected, as they are endless...though really the 'thing' of doing someone a kindness can & must be an end in itself.

4. Magic is alive and it is everywhere--one only has to look. And people who are open and who are creative and who are kind and who are 'connectors' tend to create it every day...

5. This is related to # 4: we change the world every day that we actively interact with it, & particularly when we actively 'reimagine' it. Those who resign themselves to the world as they imagine it 'is' or as they find it, are doing the world, & themselves, a grave disservice...

6. Each and every one of us has a 'superpower,' some special skill/ talent to offer the world...one only has to look. The world only stands to benefit if you take the time to seek 'it' out, & cultivate it. (Many of us, or most of us, have more tha one.)

7. People often do themselves the gravest disservice b/c they are afraid to to do 'the difficult thing' = the thing that will cause themselves personally the most pain. Too many people coddle themselves/ excuse themselves for not doing it...too many of us 'enable' them, & we do them a disservice too. The only way to get through some great trouble/ pain/ grief is to just first face it, go through it, & THEN get over & beyond. One cannot just gingerly 'step over it'...(Only way to learn how to get used the water is 1st to jump in...shocking & 'painful' as this might be)

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2 more basic, 'personal' principles of 'loisology' I think many, many Bawloreans, particularly, 'instinctively' understand:

1. 'Loises' appear, often, quite spontaneously (or so it seems) when and where they are most needed, & generally, where they are most loved.

2. People should do what they can to help make/ keep each other happy...that is generally the key to their own personal happiness. (personally i think that when 'loises' are 'helped' to be made happy, everyone wins ...) :)