The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed. Friendship is like a glass ornament, once it is broken it can rarely be put back together exactly the same way. Love is like a lost article, it shows up when and where you least expect it. My mom told me you don’t have to be popular or the prettiest. Just be who you are. Don’t do what everybody else is doing. The last thing we need is more Stepford teens. It was great advice. It seems that fears are all based on these things: illusion and future thinking, with a side order of 'What if.' 'What if that truck turns suddenly into our lane' 'What if I'm all alone at age 80?' What if? What if? What if? Yes, fears must be respected and learned about, but they must not paralyze us, or lure us into a half-life of being afraid all the time. I liked to think of my fears being driven away in a Rolls Royce (for it is true that once you face a fear, it loses all of its stuffing, and will sit quietly in the back seat and do as it's told.) I feel that fears drive us away from our true selves--innocent beings. I used to live in denial of my fears, and try to cover them up with a 'happy face.' I now see that my greatest growth is happening with an acceptance of my fears, of giving them voices and learning new ways to deal with them. It's possible to forget how alive we really are. We can become dry and tired, just existing, instead of really living. We need to remind ourselves of the juice of life, and make that a habit. Find those places inside that jump for joy, and do things that bring out your best, most magic self. Any business arrangement that is not profitable to the other person will in the end prove unprofitable for you. The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one that is apt to be repeated. Politics [is] the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order. It's so much more friendly with two. Conservation is humanity caring for the future. | 
