Simple Man

"...and be a simple kind of man...be something you love and understand." -Van Zant

Listed here is 22 years of wisdom. Read it. Use it. Pay it forward.

*Don't just ask if they are okay. Engage. Ask personal questions. Deliver your questions in a friendly manner by sitting close, but don't look directly at them too much. Dig a little bit to show care, and make your moment together brief.

*Remember that some days are good and some days are bad. The goal is to try and wear a smile the next time the sun comes up. Make sure it's a real smile. Think of reasons why you should be happy.

*Talk. Introduce with warmth. Nothing hyper or too excited, just calm and nice.

*Be clean. Dress to impress.

*Stand up for what you believe in, but pick your battles. Your natural reaction is never wrong. If you hesitate however, then continue to have a conscious, open mind.

*Be yourself. Do not try to benefit from other peoples' style. Conversation is not style, but how you deliver it is.

*Know that you can make people like you by being 'cool', but you can make people remember you by smiling. Words can be funny, but a smile-your action-is what makes you, not your words. So smile.

*When nature gives you a breath of fresh air, breathe it. You may not feel like you deserve it, but take it anyway. You might need it later.

*Above all, make people remember you for you kindness. A personal letter never hurts, and it goes a lot further than a joke told last month.

*Try to owe nothing to anyone. Not even yourself. Pay your debts.

*Balance all things in life, but don't intentionally seek bad things. Life will present you with enough.

*Laughter is a powerful tool. Don't use it to build another person's pain. Instead, use it to rebuild the world's heart again.

*Seek solitude for the mind. It does good to reflect.

*When all else fails, believe in yourself. That should be your biggest strength. Use others to fill your emptiness. Happily accept them into your life, and should they abandon you owe them nothing but your love for when they come back with sincere forgiveness and a changed dao. (Way of Life)

*Do not dwell on the things you don't have. Instead only think about what you do have and work with it.

*Embarrassment, shame, regret, pain, scars, fear. These are life's way of teaching. They are the natural balance in life that keep us from making the same mistake twice. Have them. Know them. Learn from them. Know that they will continue to exist, but also know that they are not the teacher. They are the punishment. The best thing you can do to heal from them is to never allow them to come back into your life.

*Never give up. Know your capabilities, but never give up.

*Forgive yourself. Everyone's forgiveness is on hold until you forgive yourself.

*Do not stare. Do not give looks. Judge, but do not dwell on your resolve.

*Do not ever think yourself better, faster, stronger, wiser, or smarter. Do better, but do not think yourself better.

*Do not lie. Life's punishments await those who lie.

*Do not manipulate to gain for yourself, only for others.

*Know what makes you weak. See it. Study it. Remember it. Then one day overwhelm it with strength.

*Truly. Money can buy you many things, but it cannot give you anything. Only life can do that.

*Record your life, because one day you will forget the details. Life without the details is like a vague dream. Eventually you will want to look back and know that you did more than just dream.

*Do not travel and consume. (eat) It is dangerous for you health. Besides, food is from life. Do not distract yourself with the travel when life is right in front of you.

*Be a man of principle. For without something to stand for you are not man.

*Seek good mentors. Gain their wisdom. Leave the mentors who did you wrong and do not take their advice without the counsel of you better mentors.

*When you are wise enough to lead the mentors who lead you, do so with respect. Do not misunderstand them with ignorance. Help them with the knowledge they gave you.

*Have a skill. Make yourself too valuable to get rid of. If the skill you have then also makes you happy, then live life.

*Know what you are worth.

*Using drugs harms you and those who care about you. It's like falling on your own sword, and then demanding your loved ones to do the same.

*If you can't tell those closest to you, then it is not worth doing.

*Secrets can be a burden. Have someone you can share them with.

*Understand that losing a love is like never loving at all.

*Seal all loose ends. Never leave life with anything unsaid. Be wise with your choices in the first place, and own up to what is the right thing to do in the end.

*Always leave with I Love You. You never know when it might be your last chance.

*"Read & Run." -Will Smith. These are keys to success.

*If you become powerful then be kind. Do your duty in all things, but with calmness and an open mind.

*If your duty is for the greater good, do it. If you have promised a duty for the greater good, fulfill it.

*Early is on time. On time is late.

*"Do, or do not. There is not try." - Master Yoda

*Do not spend your day preparing to live.

At last.

...and then when at last I have seen the seas, and have made my presents known to friends in cities

along the cost,

the very same that are building to building close

with a sense of familiarity shining off every bit of wet pavement, I continue.

I won't need to even look ahead. I'll know the long roads that take me out in the country side. My fingers will touch the tall grass all the way to the mountain's base where I will begin my climb, and when I get to the other side I will look back to say, "Yes, I can." Like any good story though, I'm not quite ready to reread the last chapter, 'less I lose myself in time, so I read on. Yet, somehow, I read all the way to that divine place I've been before. Autumn leaves there are the most beautiful, and the sun is always golden.

Down the stone stairway,

overlooking the all the world I've ever known,

I take a deep breath of life, and whisper,

"I'm home."

My Dear Friend,

My dear friend,

It has been some time now, but before we sit to chitchat and before we reminisce about all the years back Let me allow you to remember your purest thought, which glistens in the right light, staining each of your leaves with word play or else honesty if not Remember now, what is written here cannot be undone You remember that if it is not all just for fun You remember that what you have to say, to my dismay can pierce like a bullet from a gun The sharp words chosen without any form of discretion tug and pull tight on the heart strings of my worldly possession. I promise here that I'm not just rhyming Driving further from the point I'm trying to convey, and just not finding. The truth is that I'm lost at times. That. Is. The. Truth. That perhaps I've lost something, or maybe I'm just burdened By what then? The ink from my pen wonders. Only my hand can tell as I continue to ponder. For a moment I wonder If I'm creating this thought after thought All here in my head When in fact I know I'm not I often think about it before going to bed. What then?! The end of my paper begs. Is it my grades? My life? My direction? My unhealthy obsession?! I know now that it is none of these. What it really is is this uncertainty.. It is as though I'm at the lost and found, and there I find nothing and all it says is lost... Is this so bad? No. I suppose not All this means is that I am alive and that I get to live each day with you! Hi 5! Now that is the small smile I was hoping to find in the pages of this confession. To me or to you, let this be a lesson. Hopefully one that we will never forget. To live each day Together and never regret.

...Service before Self...

Integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do. This is my life.

Is it a strange thought to want to live a life of service? I guess it depends on who you serve, or what you serve for. I'll never forget the promise I made, the oath that dictated that my life would be different from that moment on.

I, Joshua Michael Foley, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

Some people think that I'm no longer free, but they couldn't be more wrong. I chose this life. It was my freedom to choose that! I wouldn't even bother doing something else, because in our endeavor to escape our destiny we inevitably find our fate.

If anyone can make me fall in love, you can.

♪♫ This is where it all begins
So tell me it will never end
I can't fool myself
It's you and no one else

If I could wish upon tomorrow
Tonight would never end
If you asked me I would follow
But for now I'll just pretend
If anyone can make me fall in love, you can♫ - David Archuleta

-If it is love, how do I know? Isn't there a scale, or a list of things I have to do to reach your love?

--There are so many things I can say, but I don't think there's many words I can say, or many songs I could sing that havent' already been expressed.

---Sure, I know the color of your eyes. I know your favorite sweets. I know the names of your stuffed animals. I know some things, but the truth is I don't know everything. I think that's part of life's adventure though.

----Yeah, you probably know a lot more about me: my fears, that I can't spell, my passions, what I think, how to make me upset one moment and then smiling the next, but there's some things you don't know about me. You probably didn't know that if I didn't have you in my life, that I'd be haunted by the girl of my dreams, and my heart would be forever scarred. I'd carry a weight that I couldn't even lift. 

-----Your smile, your laugh, and yes, even that look you give me when I've done something completely stupid. I cannot live a life of happiness without you. So, am I not in love?

Time capsule

(Go back to that spot.

Remember the place where you played in the autumn leaves, deep inside the woods? As far as the trail goes there was a old stump in the middle of a clearing. Through the cracks of the tree tops, light would shine and shadows danced as the wind carried the sweet smell of life.

Go back to that spot.)


-I can imagine that a culturally advanced civilization might one day explore the remains of Earth's human race, and I can imagine further that from an etic perspective it would be such a curious thing to find an odd assortment of things that serve no particular purpose. How strange would it be to dig up a small metal lunch box containing nothing more than a simple plastic comb whose age is told by the number of broken prongs, a strangely shaped rock, and an old photo? For a culture that is trying to dissect human nature, it wouldn't make much sense.
--Perhaps that is the best things about humans. We are so perfectly screwed up, and maybe that can only make sense to those with incogitancy.
---This is not an interesting rock or photo, however. This text is merely a piece of my mind that will remain for some time-I hope. This is a time capsule for me, and the treasure inside is my mind as it is now (20-years-old).

It's fun to know that when the culturally advanced civilization digs up this box containing my mind, what they will find is bound to be very different from what I put in it!