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Preamble : "Step one: Remove hand from flame."
Article I: When you've found someone who is honestly willing to take an unwanted burden off your shoulders, especially an unwanted burden that frequently immerses you in unnecessary drama, don't procrastinate. Let them have it.
Article II: When someone demonstrates they can be trusted to take information said in confidence and use it to generate drama, do not trust them with your confidences.
Article III: Do not allow others who are not only incessantly negative but whose misery is almost entirely their own fault, and who insist on poisoning their own lives with unnecessary anger, to harsh your mellow.
Article IV: The best way to avoid a cross-fire in a battle that is not yours is to absent yourself from the battlefield.
Article V: Recognise the line between supporting and enabling. Embrace the former without restraint; eschew the latter without apology.
Article VI: Public humiliation never reduces drama, and is never as effective as it seems like it should be.
Article VII: People you admire won't always do things you admire. People you find agreeable won't always do things with which you agree. That's OK.
Article VIII: Sometimes it's neither malice nor incompetence. The smartest, most well-intentioned people make mistakes, have accidents, and sometimes just don't think things through.
Article IX: Sometimes, it's not about you.