It’s good to be careful. It’s instinctual, that God-given internal voice that tells us something’s not right and that we must beware.

We’re suspicious of people we don’t know because we worry that they’ll take advantage of us and so we keep our guard up. That’s because there are people who’ll cheat us if they’re able.

Yet, being taken advantage of isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you. Far more damaging is allowing your mistrust to make you bitter, cold and withdrawn.

While it’s smart to be protective, be willing to open yourself up to people and experiences.

Everyday that I awaken brings the chance for me to draw in a breath, kick off the dregs of the day before and to venture out into a new world. The same can be said for you, too.

That is the miracle that is you – to live a fresh, new day – unencumbered with the troubles of the future or the past. But you must chose to make it so.

When the opportunity arises, we need to be willing to stand up and commit ourselves wholeheartedly to the prospect of the new day and live it as passionately as we can.

“More, more, more,” goes the song ‘Rebel Yell,’ by Billy Idol.

We always want more. More things, more mullah, more friends.

Whatever it might be that we think we don’t have enough of, if only we had more of it we’d be happy or at least happier. But we know better, or at least we should.

If what you have of something at this very moment isn’t making you happy, why then would more of it give you anymore happiness than you are already not experiencing?

Find satisfaction in the stuff you already have. More of nada is still zilch.

Your attitude determines the state of the world you live in. It can make you or break you.

It isn’t understood why a positive attitude influences our minds and bodies the way that it does; we only know that it does. Research shows that people who’re sick improve faster when they have a positive attitude.

This is the power of the placebo. A positive attitude may not cure a person’s illness, but at the very least it helps that person cope with the stresses of the illness.

Simply stated: what you think is what you get – and remember to breathe.

Odd that I was jus’ recently thumbing through a 1983 People magazine I’ve kept, where ‘Return of the Jedi’ actress Debbie Carrington talked about wearing an Ewok suit, comparing it to a sauna, requiring the crew to continually hand out Gatorade. So it comes as a real blow to my heart-strings to learn she has passed away.

The last time I heard from her was in early July 2017, when she told me that she was making an appearance at a venue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The first time I met Debbie, we were on the set of ‘Return of the Jedi,’ being filmed in the redwoods, near Smith River, California, north of Crescent City.

She was having a difficult time climbing over, under and through the undergrowth of the forest because of the Ewok costume she had on, so I offered to help her by carrying her from one place to another. That was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

One evening, close to the wrapping up of filming, a bunch of extras, stand-ins and production crew gathered in a motel room in Brookings, Oregon (north of Smith River) and partied into the morning hours. Much debauchery that I cannot admit too, occurred that night.

She and I got so drunk that we went in the bathroom and fell asleep in the bathtub. When I woke up my left side was completely numb from where Debbie was sleeping against me, but that was okay – I drooled in hair, so we called it even.

Not many people know that aside from being an advocate for actors with disabilities (at 3-foot, ten-inches, she lived with dwarfism,) she had a degree in child psychology that she’d earned the University of California, Davis. She was good-natured unless you called her a ‘midget,’ or described her as ‘diminutive,’ then she’d politely educate you — because she was neither.

So once again I am feeling my age as I find that my friend, whose laughter and voice could carry over any size crowd, has passed away. God-speed, Debbie.

Have you ever yelled at someone who didn’t deserve it? Anger’s the most dangerous and direct emotion human’s possess.

If allowed, it’ll become destructive. Worse yet, it generally happens when we’re most angry at ourselves.

It then becomes a vicious cycle; the angrier we become the worse the destruction. However we can choose to not be angry in the first place.

Furthermore, we can release our anger as it comes over us. Take the time to think about why you’re feeling angry.

Once our anger’s put in perspective you’ll find yourself calmer, then you can act rationally, constructively, not destructively.

“[And] I am no longer competent at skipping.” – Robert Fulghum

After reading this single sentence, it got me to thinking, “Do I even remember how to skip anymore?” After all, I recall that as a child I used to skip all the time – especially if I were playing with my brother and sisters.

The following day, which happened to be one the rainiest days of the year in Northern Nevada, I challenged myself to find out. And much to my displeasure, I learned that I’d forgotten.

Instead of remaining defeated, I acted on my better nature, re-teaching myself how to skip. I am certain that my neighbors now think that my cheese has slipped off my cracker.

So what! I’ve never let a little embarrassment stop me from reaching a goal, no matter how insignificant it might seem to others.

It took about half-an-hour for the memory-muscles to return and before long I was sailing up and down the street like a pro. Perhaps, next time I’ll try my hand at cartwheels, followed by somersaults, then jumping rope.

First though, does anyone wanna join me in a game of tag?

In John Huston’s 1966 movie, “The Bible,” Nimrod shoots an arrow into the Heaven’s and God responds by confounding mankind. He purposefully confused our language, causing us to disperse so that we would never attempt to become greater than our Creator.

However, today it seems that we are on that staircase again, trying to be superior to the God who made us. This is being accomplished through the media, social media, and governments which are not only confusing our words, but are also confounding our ability to think clearly and there’s no way to return that arrow to it’s quiver.

Everyday I ask myself this question: ‘Do I think too much of myself?’

There is no middle-of-the-road answer to this question as we all have tendencies from day-to-day that lead us to one extreme or the other. Sometimes we need to convince ourselves of our importance because we will not hear it from anyone else.

After all, we all want to feel significant in some way – even if it is only within ourselves. On the other hand, there are days I also must ask myself, “Do I think too little of myself?”

That answer is also subject to our extremes.

It’s a time in life that I miss now, a when I helped the old folks dig the pit, split the wood and cook the cow, eaten fresh fruits and vegetables, sopped up gravy with bread cooked over a wood-fired oven, laid on old blankets in the green grass under the tall trees, chased friends around the pasture, drank tumbling water from the nearby creek, and laughed and laughed and then laughed some more, yet somehow finding my way home before the streetlights flickered, only to fling my clothes to the floor and my body on my bed.

Oh, youth!