My 18-year-old self would scream in horror that I’m suggesting that the secret to happiness is lowered expectations. Expect the world! But there you have it.

Todd. By god. I can still be reduced to hysterics by a piece of graffiti on a noticeboard in the Central Area: “Maxi Is A Twit.” I don’t know why, but it crucifies me every time.

But we bail on the vital – relationships. We’ve no problem telling a friend, after a relationship has ended, that we never really thought the former-beloved was all that suited to them. So we’ve no problem being honest, just when the advice is no longer useful.

Some bad advice I’ve received? It was in the dot-bomb days: “Baltimore Tech has fallen from $100 to $10 a share – you should really get in now. I mean, can it really fall any further?” (Unfortunately, that was not a rhetorical question).

Some good recent advice: “Try miso soup”.

Which also answers your second question.

It seems to me, from what I think I know of you from your writing and the few times we’ve met, that you’re a much better liver of life than me or almost anyone I know, and that it would be ridiculous to offer you advice on anything. You already appear to have the tools to do whatever you might want to do, brilliantly.

So I the only advice I can think of giving to you—and it’s not for your sake; it’s for ours—is to spread your light over more people. That means writing more, and talking with more strangers, and mentoring more young people. Because I believe that you have a salutary effect on everyone who encounters you, and eventually, if everyone around you is better off, some of that betterness will make its way back to you.

I just wish I were closer to the source.

1b. Never work alone.

2. Took that advice and it formed the basis of a seven year and counting consulting practice.

3. How do you advise someone like you to follow their heart or anything like that? This whole blog has been an amazing story of what happens when someone trips around the globe leaving breadcrumbs of curiosity and for the rest of us to find her by. The only advice I can offer is come to Bowen Island next time you are in this part of the world and I’ll make you a curry to thank you for the beauty that you have brought into this world.

- Always have a plan, but be ready to change it at a moment’s notice

- Steer clear of office politics and don’t take sides in office wars

- Don’t take your emotional temperature every five minutes. Just let yourself be sometimes

Also that Samaritans guy was right on. It’s not advice, but the best single thing I learned in college was in training for a peer advice line. They taught us how to just listen. Invaluable.

Advice for you? Be careful riding that freaking motorcycle.

I found this book interesting
http://www.amazon.com/Sitting-Fire-Transformation-Conflict-Diversity/dp/1887078002

I used to work in faciltation— as a food server.
I was always amazed that full service meals, Buffets, and icy cold buckets of beer and wine all had profoundly different effects on the groups involved.
It’a funny how much food matters in the way people interact.
Dervala, since i know you love food and dining styles, (and have global experience) you may have greater potential to influence your clients behavior than you realize.
Hope you realize your good intentions
-bill

Best advice I ever got… Hard to choose. Here’s a few:

1. At uni: Ask people on campus who the best teachers are. Doesn’t matter what subjects they teach: take them.

2. When choosing jobs, all other things being equal, take the one where you stand to learn the most.

3. Don’t go to the alter unless you’ve got zero doubt.

4. Don’t force it.

Did I take it? Yes, to numbers 1-3, but too seldom for number 4.

Advice for you: Come to Paris. Let my wife and me buy you dinner. We owe you for the shimmer of your words.

Other good advice:

“Enjoy being 20. Because one day, you’ll be 30, and it’s 40, 50, 60, dead. It goes by so fast.” From my father’s uncle. And looking at 33, he was right. I feel like I was 25 yesterday.

“People will screw you for money. Friends, family, strangers. Expect it.” My first boss. And man…was he ever right.

Yeesh…I’ve gotten a lot of good advice in my time. I could write pages! I’ve been very fortunate.