For
the past 40 years I have read and carried 6 books--the original ones I
bought I still have with me and they are: 1) "Loneliness: The Fear of
Love" by Ira Tanner 2) & 3) "Games People Play" and "What Do You Say
After You Say Hello" by Eric Berne, M.D. 4) "I'm Okay-You're OK" by
Thomas A. Harris, M. D. 5) "Born To Win" by Murial James, Ph.D. and
Dorothy Jongeward, Ph.D. 6) "Passages" (the original) Gail Sheehy.

Dr.
Cassius taught me so many different philosophies, mantras, lessons of
his own and others, that I have kept inside of my head and heart, many
have seen me through the hard times I had and helped me celebrate the
good times. I don't have anything about the number 6 but here are 6
things that get me up, gets me going and I have to relearn every
morning.

1. Lying is selfish. A person lies only to make themselves feel and/or look better.

2. Eliminate 'try' from a sentence and it becomes a positive sentence.

3. Use the word won't instead of can't.

4. Never say Never

5. Being alone does not mean being lonely.

6. As long as you get up in the morning you have it made.

I don't always do all these things but I do know when I am not which in itself is a big lesson.

Joe
also taught me an exercise that I have now be doing for over 40 years.
The first thing I do every morning is go into the bathroom--NO! Not
That! LOL--look in the mirror and say, out loud, using  your name, (You
have to have a sense of humor!) "Martin you are okay." It never fails to
get a smile on my face and start my day off right.

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There
was only one mistake Joe made but then I did, too, by signing the paper
he handed me and though it cost me dearly financially it did lead to a
decision that was the best for me.

After
feeling that rage towards Bernie when I came back into the office 15
minutes later Joe handed me a piece of paper written by Bernie saying
that for the coming year he would pay me the same salary plus bonus plus
all benefits I had the previous year. Joe had asked Bernie to do this
to give me the security I wanted and to give Bernie the knowledge that I
would still stay with him. As soon as I signed that paper I became an
employee and Bernie the employer but more about that later.

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I
got more and more involved with the group meetings and sessions with
Joe learning more and more about myself what I really knew but wouldn't
allow to come out. I started going to Transactional Analysis marathons
in Houston, the ones I mentioned previously in San Franscisco and New
Orleans.

I
was getting stronger and was getting very strange reactions from
Bernie. I came to understand that change can bring fear and Bernie
didn't know this new Martin. I wasn't the 'son' he wanted anymore and he
wasn't the father who held the strings, who I leaned on, who I expected
to take care of everything. Each day I was standing taller on my own
two feet. An example of this was one day when I walked into the office
he called me into his and told me that he had heard I was seen in
Overton and that the car I was driving was owned by the company and was
to be used for business only.  Without arguing, getting into a rage as I
probably would have a few months before. Instead I went into my office
called the Caddilac dealer, asked him how much it would cost to buy the
white convertible, went to the bank and the next day went into the
dealer's and I was now the owner of the car..

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Before
that happened I was loving working with WW, taking trips to Chattanooga
every week, going here and there, discovering Memphis. Bernie's ex and
daughters returned to New York, I moved in with him which didn't work
out and I got my own place in Chatham Village on Park Avenue. Let's get
back to the good times.

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