Ten Rules for Living the Good Life
from a jd comment
by LTC Roy E. Peterson
You must make peace with your own past.
_Construct a mental suture
with timeless thread and mercy’s needle,
_Then focus on your future.
What other people think of you
_you never will control.
If truly bad, then prove them wrong
_For peace within your soul.
The only person who’s in charge
_of happiness is you.
It matters not what others think,
_or what they say and do.
You can’t compare your life to others,
_Not knowing what they’ve gone through.
What you can do is be supportive
_with friendship that is true.
Time heals almost everything,
_Focus on what’s ahead.
Keep only those good memories,
_Replay them in your head.
Stop overthinking all life’s problems
_Answers are everywhere.
Use more than one source to tackle them
_Then make a choice aware.
Your smile should be your asset.
_There is no cause to frown.
You don’t own all the world’s problems.
_They’ll only get you down.
Be kind and thoughtful to those you meet
_that’s the way to start.
Just one kind act that you have done
_affects all human hearts.
Be thankful for all that you have
_it could be less, you know.
Don’t be Comparison’s poor slave
_Let satisfaction show.
LTC Roy E. Peterson, US Army Military Intelligence and Russian Foreign Area Officer (Retired) has published more than 6,200 poems in 88 of his 112 books. He has been an Army Attaché in Moscow, Commander of INF Portal Monitoring in Votkinsk, first US Foreign Commercial Officer in Vladivostok, Russia and Regional Manager in the Russian Far East for IBM. He holds a BA, Hardin-Simmons University (Political Science); MA, University of Arizona (Political Science); MA, University of Southern California (Int. Relations) and MBA University of Phoenix. He taught at the University of Arizona, Western New Mexico University, University of Maryland, Travel University and the University of Phoenix.
Stolen, fair and square, like all the other good ideas I find on the internet, which are now stuffed away in some file that I might be able to find some day.
Not stolen but shared in admiration.
Understood. Years ago, after the birth of our first grandchildren, Daughter#1 gave me a book which sort of prompts one to write his own autobiography (not an easy task, BTW). Anyway, I took it seriously, and wrote to it for several months before I thought that I’d written enough to give my grandchildren an idea of who I was.
Much of the book is biographical. “What kind of student were you?” “Where did you go to college?” “How did you and grandma meet?” But there is also a section in there where you offer your life advice to your grandkids. I wrote much of my own, and then added lists of advice that I’d found on the internet (and cited them, even, if I could remember where I’d found it). Believe it or not, in the mess that is my computer filing system, I was able to find my file that I’d written to them and have added LTC Peterson’s poem to that advice.
Good for you for writing the book. I’m sure Mr. Peterson would be tickled to know his poem is becoming such a traveler.
Azlib has certainly lived a full life. I’d give it a read for sure.
Thanks for the kind words. In truth, I am much more dull than the portrayal of myself that is seen on the interwebs.