1. “Sometimes, don’t talk.  Just listen.” ~Julie Yindra.  It seems like we spend way too much time either talking or waiting to talk.  Sometimes….just shut the f*ck up and listen!

2. “Try the buffet.” ~Father Jerry Rohr, in response to the questions How do I know what I’m supposed to do in life? How do I know what path I’m supposed to take?  Try the buffet. If you don’t like one thing, hey, at least you tried it. Put it down and grab something else.

3. “Reality” isn’t what happens to you. “Reality” is about *how you react to* what happens to you. ~Loraine Martin.  Life isn’t crappy because crappy things happen to you. Life is crappy because you have a crappy attitude about what happens to you. You can have the best stuff in the world happen to you, but if you are a negative, pessimistic person, then your Reality sucks regardless of how much money you have or even regardless of the good health you may have. On the other hand, you could be going through cancer and your third bout of chemo.  But if you are a positive person, one who is not in denial, but who is optimistic and knows that every day you wake up is a good day, then your Reality ain’t so bad.

Which I suppose brings me to a fourth piece of advice I hold on to. This comes courtesy of my friend Polly. Several years back, she was going through cancer yet again and I was going through my own medical crap. We would spend hours talking about life, death, surgeries, doctors and everything else and she would constantly say, “You can’t just roll over and die. You can’t just stay in bed. You have to get out there and live. Look at me, I have cancer, I’m not in denial about that. I know I have cancer. But I also have Life. I also still have things I want to do, people I want to see. I still have responsibilities and things to get done. I can’t just roll over and die. I can’t just stay in bed. And neither can you.  Life is too good.  Get out there and live.  Get out there and try things.  Live. Love. Experience it all.” Which I guess fits perfectly with Father Jerry’s “Try the buffet.”

Yep…I have some smart friends who give great advice…..