A few have helped me a immensely in life:

1. “Learn to pick your battles.” I’ve found that the vast majority of battles aren’t worth picking. Your time and energy are valuable, don’t waste them on things that aren’t worth it. Ask yourself, “Am I willing to die on a hill for this?” Most of the time, you should just walk away.

2. Learn how to do deep, honest self reflection, the kind that makes you fully vulnerable to yourself. If you feel yourself snapping to a conclusion rapidly or defending a position aggressively, stop and really question why. What are the reasons you think that/feel that?

Use those moments to expose yourself to opposing views with an open mind. Even if you still end up on the same side, you’ll have at least understood where the other person is coming from. I’ve trained myself to be suspicious any time I hold a view where I struggle to think of plausible arguments supporting an opposing view. That usually indicates that I’ve been in an echo chamber and I need to start challenging my own position more.

3. “The heart without the mind is ineffective. The mind without the heart is insincere.” Passion and practicality need to work together to find effective solutions to make the world better. It does little good to have a bleeding heart with no plan of action to accomplish anything. It also does little good to have a plan of action without people involved who truly believe in it and care about the outcome.

Those folks will be the only ones left when funding runs thin and support dwindles, the bleeding hearts will show up when the weather’s bad, show up early and stay late. Both are essential to create lasting, effective, positive change in the world.

4. Above all else, be compassionate. All people deserve basic human dignity. Love people as best as you can. This has sadly been the hardest lesson for me to learn. I grew up in a family with lots of law enforcement connections and sadly, I was taught to fear, hate, and ridicule far more often than I was taught to love.

I know that’s not everybody’s experience, but that was my experience. I was taught that if somebody was in a bad situation in life, it was almost always their fault, and they were to be condemned for that and I was to treat them as outcasts.

I’m ashamed to admit that I carried that mentality with me through all of my childhood and into my adult life. I was disgusted by homeless folks, drug addicts, people suffering in shelters and in government housing. I’m ashamed to admit that I viewed them as parasites, draining valuable resources from society all because they were “too lazy/dysfunctional to be productive.”

I was told this and taught this as truth. Thankfully I started to slowly deconstruct and question all of that that in my 20’s. Something started to happen to me internally, and when I would see a person begging or hear a story about impoverished folks struggling, I started to feel care, and compassion, and concern for them. I started to understand the systemic reasons for their situation, I stopped thinking the way to deal with these problems was to throw them in jail or fine them for panhandling.

I’m happy to say that my spouse and I are involved in community efforts now days to help folks in need. We’re are working with different organizations that address these issues in our home city and it’s been such a fulfilling journey so far.

Sorry for the novel, I felt like I needed to get some of that off my chest. This world is really broken and the underprivileged are suffering a lot. Don’t be like a younger me and add to that, be compassionate and caring to others. Love and try to understand. Help and serve, you might be the only hint of positivity another person sees for days, weeks, even years, so make it count.

Find orgs/groups around you that help folks in need and address systemic issues in your communities. Stand up for those who are the most vulnerable, give a voice to those that don’t have one.

Peace, love, and good vibes to everybody here and beyond. I hope y’alls day/night goes well. Stay safe and be well. <3