Time Capsule for thoughts

1 1 00 Steve Forrester
These things appear to be self evident, and intuitively obvious.
1. Do not interrupt a conversation to make corrections when two other persons are speaking.
2. When only two persons are speaking, always wait until you are sure the other person has stopped speaking before you give your opinion about what they were saying. The conversation will never get where the first person was going if you divert it by interjecting your thoughts about a portion of the topic, or fail to accept the suppositions. You can always go back to correct the person when they are done. This is how proper conversation is supposed to happen. Cutting one another off mid thought makes for argument. (Summation is critical)
3. Listen the way you want to be listened to.
4. Ask for clarification if you do not understand the whole thought, but not until you have listened all the way.
5. Very often group conversation dynamics are faintly disguised pecking order contests. One-Up, Drop of the Name, Put downs, Over the head, Shot to the heart, Manly defamation, Emasculation, Head trip, Who’s your Mother, to name a few. Don’t play if you can’t stand to lose.
6. Actions speak volumes, words are deceitful. If you don’t act the way you speak, everyone knows, and assumes you are trying to mislead them by your statements. If you act the way they believe is right in the first place, it is difficult to make them believe you are misleading them, no matter how many words.
7. If you want something out of the conversation, let the other person think they are giving you a gift. Really appreciate it. Never beg or plead. If you must trade something, begin your offers at 10% of the Street Value. If you must have the item, and it is a bargaining situation, only go to 80% of the value, unless they are the only possessor of the item or information. If it is a common item, and you must pay full price, just go to K-Mart and close the negotiations. You loose all bargaining face if you pay the full price. The only time to do this, is to set the person up for a future gig.
8. Sharing your intimate thoughts gives people power over you.
9. People who you currently trust may in the future betray you.
10. When in doubt, go with your heart. It may mislead you, but you have to go with the percentages. If you don’t believe in yourself, you can’t believe in anybody else.
11. Always defer to your master. He would not be your master if he were not better. Never speak against him.
12. If your master fails you, find another one, or wait until he is deposed.
13. Give your all. Never give up. Overcome at all costs. Make them prove you wrong.
14. Never fear to fail. If you truly fail, you have been beaten and must accept it. Trying is more important than winning.
15. Ask advice from a broken man. He knows where he went wrong.
16. Ask advice from a great man. He knows where he went right.
17. Never betray a friend. If he betrays you, you were not his friend. You can still be friendly, but you can never be his friend again. If you betray him, you loose part of your soul. It will never be the same again. Know that you can never be friends again, and be a better friend the next time. This will haunt you forever.
18. A dog is always glad to see you.
19. If you are in despair, seek your friends. If you are honest with them, and they give you the advice of Jobs friends or wife, you have gone to the wrong friends. If you have a new perspective after talking with them, you made the right choice.
20. Respect other peoples personal space, and their property.
21. Stay away from gifts and obligations.
22. Make someone happy.
23. Overcome your natural instincts to obsess on mistakes. Choose to be happy.
24. Marry for love. Never Quit.
25. Brush your teeth.
26. Eat Well.
27. Travel.
28. Travel more.
29. Watch the Dawn’s early light.
30. Respect your parents.
31. Respect the elderly.
32. Learn something every day.
33. Try harder than anyone else, and choose wisely what you try.
34. Submit only if you have exhausted all of your resources.
35. Lay on your back on the hood of an old car on a moonless night & watch shooting stars. (Say money, money, money before the star flames out)
36. Build a fire in the woods, and sleep by it.
37. Get lost as often as possible. You never know what you might find.
38. Speak to people in the bazaar’s, they are almost always friendly.
39. Eat at the road-houses, and talk to the farmers.
40. Listen to good music.
41. Share your music with your friends.
42. Listen very carefully to what they say.
43. Hug your children, no matter what age they are.
44. Arm wrestle with a friend.
45. Write letters, send e-mail’s, call, walk over, drive by, drop in, keep in touch with people you care about.
46. Embrace the goofy, stupid, unkempt, un-lovely people you are related to. It isn’t easy, but it’s right.
47. Open up your house to your friends. Make them feel welcome.
48. Ride a motorcycle in the rain.
49. Come home to the place that feels like home.