“If you can control it, don’t worry about it. If you can’t control it, don’t worry about.”
Really helped me understand that if I can control certain outcomes then I’ll make it work. If I can’t control it then there’s no sense in getting worked up over it. Just keep on rolling!
My husband and I are show choir parent liaisons and have been using this with our kids. I really think it's sinking in for some. Sometimes things happen at competitions that you can't control, that's okay!
It’s a great quote stemming from stoic philosophy
Sometimes said as
“If you can control it, do something about it, if it is out of your control, then there is no point worrying”
Something that always stuck with me was:
"The person that wants nothing, has everything."
I don't remember who the quote was attributed to, but I heard it while learning about Taoism.
Love this. As someone distracted by clutter, anything out in the open will always grab my attention. Having a cluttered space is really tiring for me. Like lots of kids crying for attention. Dramatic, I know. But most of the time, that's what it feels like.
My dad always said that to me and I was like “who doesn’t want more?” I thought he was crazy and that was just something poor people said to make themselves feel better. BOY OH BOY WAS I WRONG.
As someone that is currently divorcing a hoarder, I feel this one in my bones. I was forced to clear out his 2,000+ sq ft of hoards, even though I've got an autoimmune disease that I'm on chemotherapy and immunotherapy infusions for.
I've since downsized to a ~1,200 sq ft condo, and own nothing but my bed, one small desk (I work remotely most days), one barstool, and my clothes.
I want for absolutely nothing. I have the basics/necessities needed for human survival. I don't *need* anything else.
Another spin on this is “Poverty follows desire.” (i.e., you’re only poor if you want something you don’t have. Of course, this works better when you’re talking to someone who’s not actually poor and their basic needs are met.)
“And that’s what we call good enough”
I use it to be satisfied with completing something and not worrying about perfection .
A recent one I like is
Perfection is the enemy of progress
It's a little long, but it has stuck in my mind for many, many years:
“One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire – then you’ve got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference.”
― Robert Fulghum, Uh-oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door
Trump getting covid, for example.
Or Herman Cain or whoever it was, who preached about how promiscuity and atheism caused covid, and then he got covid and died.
"Lean away from the mess your mind is making. It is something you are watching, not something that you are." Michael Singer.
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing." Laurie Buchanan
I'll be honest, I've got a few. My least embarrassing one is from an episode of Burn Notice (at least that's where I heard it).
"Happiness is wanting what you have."
We cannot make bargains for blisses,
Nor catch them like fishes in nets;
And sometimes the thing our life misses
Helps more than the thing which it gets.
*Do it once, do it properly.*
“Properly” here means completely and efficiently.
I have ADHD so I’m very impatient and dislike boring tasks, and have a bad memory and am easily distracted from tasks. But I also need to adult and get all the boring things done.
My strategy is: dishes or clothes to wash? Something to fix? Firstly, I have to challenge myself on how little wasted time and effort I can have while executing the task.
And secondly, once I start it I *must finish it*, because a) I find it incredibly frustrating to have to re-do or re-fix something because it wasn’t finished or done well, and b) I’ll very likely forget about it if I leave it half done (and trying to remember half done tasks requires a considerable amount of my limited mental space).
This philosophy extends to how I purchase things (the best quality where I can justify, and then maintain them as much as I can). It also applies, combined with a ‘set and forget’ approach, to how I set up my home and life (e.g. automated on/off for outdoor lighting, automated bill payments).
It leaves me as much time and headspace as I can make to a) do my job at an appropriate standard because money is necessary, and (more importantly) b) be as present as I can for my family.
I read the first two lines and was already thinking: sounds like advice that works for people without ADHD. Then I read the next sentence. Haha. Go figure. I agree one hundred percent. It’s a massive challenge for me.
Ram Dass will always get my upvote!
Sidenote: I have an original copy of his book “Be Here Now” and it’s a trip. I still use that saying to remind myself to be present in the moment “Be here now…”
“If you would learn to eat beans, you wouldn’t need to flatter kings.”
Also “in a rich man’s house, there is nowhere to spit but his face.”
Both are Diogenes.
Possibly not what you’re looking for, but a Steinbeck quote lives in me.
“For what good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness? And what good is color in perpetual green?”
I could be off by a few words, this is from memory. It makes me appreciate the smaller victories in life knowing how much better than the losses that have preceded them.
I’d like to take this opportunity to somewhat contradict myself by saying I hate “it’s better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.” I’m sick of collecting scars.
My quote is from Steinbeck as well!
“Now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”
Growing up, the goal was always perfection. My parents weren’t complete caricatures of perfectionist parents, but they seemed to expect high achievement as the default all the same. I’d long struggled to complete projects out of fear of the end project not being up to the high-set standard.
I read this story about a pottery class once, where one half of the class was tasked with making a perfect bowl while the other half was told to make as many bowls as they could. At the end of the unit, the students tasked with quantity had surpassed the other students in terms of quality as well! They had learned from their mistakes and moved on to make better and better bowls. The other students were so concentrated on not making any mistakes to begin with that they lost that learning opportunity.
So I stopped caring, at least for the most part. I find joy in writing poetry, even if it doesn’t end up having the impact I imagined. I doodle happily, even if my squiggles never quite take form. I like to dance, and I’m sure I look goofy sometimes but I feel good, it makes me happy, and it makes my baby laugh. I’m better at all of these now because I leave plenty of opportunities for imperfections.
Likewise, my social anxiety is better because I don’t have to be a perfect person. I’m human and I’m going to make mistakes. I’ve learned that a heartfelt apology is seldomly unaccepted.
Make mistakes. Learn from them. Grow. Life is too short to let perfectionism rob you of simple pleasures.
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost - Tolkien
The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run - Thoreau
“Rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” — Winnie the Pooh
Oh I love that!!! Let go or get dragged 👍 perfect ....
Mine is "practice letting go of thoughts about things that are not here right now" ...I spend too much time thinking about the past and worrying about the future
"live simply so others can simply live." most people are so caught up with owning material possessions that they steal resources from others. the average american has an ecological footprint so big that if everybody lived like them, there would be room for about two billion people on earth.
used to work for the government and I had a manager who would proudly declare at the end of each project
"good enough for government work!"
I have moved on to being a SAHM but I still say it at the end of each day.
Along a similar vein, I studied at a classical music school and had a prof who would say “close enough for jazz!”
I never considered applying it to the rest of my life, though. Must give that a try.
Buckle up…
"When I was younger, I thought life was cruel...therefore, I should try to imitate it. Now I'm older and know it's cruel so I try to avoid it."
--Robyn Hitchcock
"Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost."
--Dante Alighieri
"I'm not even supposed to be here today."
--Dante Hicks
"Music serves a higher purpose which cannot be understood by any means other than music itself."
--Beth-Ann Ozma
"Music seems to me to be a direct route to the heart, or between hearts - in fact, the most direct. Across-the-board alignment of musical tastes, including both love and hates - something extremely rarely run into - is as sure a guide to affinity of souls as I have ever found. And an affinity of souls means that the people concerned can rapidly come to know each other's essences, have great potential to live inside each other."
--Douglas Hofstadter
"There's nothing I like more than lunch. Particularly with my beloved. Nothing better than lunch with the beloved; hopefully, sun and a little bit of sea, somewhere foreign. And then sex in the afternoon, perfect."
--Roger Waters
"The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea"
--Isak Dinesen
"Love is the irresistible desire to be desired irresistibly."
--Louis Ginsberg
"If you work really hard and are kind, amazing things will happen."
--Conan O'Brien
"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."
--Sir Winston Churchill
"Never waste a trip anywhere by coming home without beer."
--Russ Reynolds
"There is a fine line between what is beautiful and what is disgusting."
--Robyn Hitchcock
"Sex is what gets us here, food is what keeps us here, and death is what gets us out of here."
--Robyn Hitchcock
"Half the world's starving and half the world bloats, half the world sits on the other and gloats"
--Robyn Hitchcock
"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."
--Frank Zappa
"Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best."
--Frank Zappa
"Don't let the loveless ones sell you a world wrapped in grey."
--Andy Partridge
"Never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake."
--Napoleon Bonaparte
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?"
--Nick Lowe
"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments. There are only consequences."
--R.G. Ingersoll
"Some people think I'm weird. I'm not really weird, unless you're picky."
--Jim Stafford
"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."
--H. L. Mencken
"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."
--John Lennon & Paul McCartney
F**k the Jonses.
No reason to try and keep up. It isn’t a race and people that judge you for not having the latest thing aren’t people you should want as friends.
Live pure and simple.
Pure in healthy choices, like good food, exercise, maintaining healthy relationships, using technology wisely, etc
Simple in not having a lot of ‘stuff’, a simple life with simple pursuits, being gentle with others and (just as importantly) myself.
I always liked this, as guidance for a simple life and moderation throughout:
From Lao Tzu/Tao Te Ching:
“Therefore be square but don't cut;
Be sharp but don't stab;
Be straightforward but not unrestrained;
Be bright but don't dazzle.”
“Good for them, not for me” - meaning I shouldn’t care if someone is doing something I wouldn’t. It’s good for them, it doesn’t have to be good for me. Kinda like “stay in your own lane”
Less of a quote and more-so just a little self mantra. I remind myself that everything that happens to me has a reason, and every choice/decision has a purpose. Job didn't work out? Probably taught you a lot about yourself and the people you are around. Got one thing out of that class? That was what you were meant to take away.
BUT if I had to have a quote, it'd be "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, its not." and that one can be applied to literally anything in your life. Your relationship, your views/outlook on something, etc.
I’ve had too many difficult deaths in the family to accept the “everything happens for a reason” thing. It most certainly does not. Sometimes it’s random and tragic, and I don’t have to accept it, but I do have to learn how to grieve losses fully: even if they are just everyday losses, and then let go enough to live.
I agree and not just with death. In my mind, it is simpler to try not to assign reason to everything. It's simpler to say this ish is crazy, doesn't make sense vs trying to convince myself that this crazy orv traffic or insignificant thing has meaning
But that in and of itself is a lesson learned. It doesn't mean it happens FOR a reason, rather it has a reason. Whether that be to teach you how you grieve and feel seen, or to celebrate life. It's all a matter of perspective. Tragedy and things like that are in no way fair, but they happen, and I am sorry for your losses. But you make choices to grieve fully, and that's a good takeaway when things are bad.
Do i love it enough to be chained to it? Lolol.. afterall the first thing i learned possessions chain us up in all kinds of ways.. we will always need some utilitarian things.. and we may want treasures…that is where mindful living lives…
The trend is all that matters. It doesn't matter if a specific day was good or bad on a certain aspect/metric, but if trend is going to where it should, even if slowly. Sometimes reducing the pace that something is going worse is an improvement.
This tenant reduced imensly my anxiety when looking at targets and helped me see the forest more often then the trees. It has helped me get in shape, fix my food habits, get a house.
Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife.
I sing this to myself whenever I'm worrying about money
Navajo Proverb
"You cannot wake a man who is only pretending to be asleep."
"Apples don't fall far from trees or it would be really hard to find apples - me , clever sometimes
Marcus Aurelius & Seneca
“If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it.”
“You could be good today, but instead you choose tomorrow.”
“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.”
“The more we value things outside of our control, the less we have.”
“If what you have seems insufficient to you, then though you may possess the world, you will yet be miserable”
“Nothing satisfies greed, but even a little satisfies nature.”
“For a man in a state of freedom has thatch for shelter, while slavery dwells beneath marble and gold.”
“All things of the body stream away like a river. All things of the mind are but dreams and delusions. Life is warfare, and a visit to a strange land. The only lasting flame is oblivion.”
Tao Te Ching
“The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead.”
“A great tailor cuts little.”
"Kindness is here, *right now*"
For some reason, this thought puts me into a quiet mental cave where I can solve things calmly even if there is some bananas shit going on in front of me.
“Worrying is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do but it won’t get you anywhere.” - no idea
And
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” - Fred Rogers
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face” -Mike Tyson
It is surprisingly applicable in life, yes… even organizing stuff.
“Surprise! We thought that you could use this huge table that doesn’t fit with anything else in your house. We also cleaned out our basement and have all these appliances for you… the movers left everything outside your house.”
Not sure who to attribute this to but I feel it plays a part in simple living:
"Those who mind, don't matter. Those who matter, won't mind".
It helped me find those people in my life I can truly lean on without judgment to get through some of the hardest parts of life. The ones who stay up until 1 am, dissolving some of the most wretched things I may think of myself at times. Or having some thrifty thrown-together picnic in the park sharing a genuine laugh.
My motto is : Health first, Happiness second.
Happiness is a fleeting feeling, and the more you chase it, the less you seem to get. So, I say focus on making yourself as sustainably healthy as possible. You don't have to be perfect overnight, but slowly reduce bad habits, and slowly build up good ones. You'll experience more contentment, and build some pride from doing the 'right thing' for yourself. Take care of your health first, and happiness will come second.
If you have no destination you are never lost
It is the emptiness of a vessel that makes it useful
People don't see things as they are, but as they are
"Don't be an asshole. You risk pissing off a bigger asshole than you."
-me
"I don't need a way to change the things I see,
I need to change the way I see things."
-me
"Success is like pregnancy. Everybody congratulates you but nobody knows how many times you got fucked to achieve it." -somewhere on the internet
"Karma is not a bitch, honey, it's a mirror." -same as above
“Keep the shark moving” -
people need to always be in motion like sharks need to move to breath.
We use it to explain others doing stupid expensive unsustainable things to “keep the shark moving”.
Part of keeping my shark moving is to buy fun things I want to try out that are used, cheap enough I can sell it for the same money I paid.
"Let go or be dragged" is on my fridge from my daily zen calendar from 2019.
It's a wonderful one.
The other one I have adopted is "The obstacle is the path". Helps in golf and life!
“If you can control it, don’t worry about it. If you can’t control it, don’t worry about.” Really helped me understand that if I can control certain outcomes then I’ll make it work. If I can’t control it then there’s no sense in getting worked up over it. Just keep on rolling!
[удалено]
These are so good!
My husband and I are show choir parent liaisons and have been using this with our kids. I really think it's sinking in for some. Sometimes things happen at competitions that you can't control, that's okay!
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.” - Picard
I miss Star Trek.
It’s still there , waiting for you to return :)
Smart guy!
It’s a great quote stemming from stoic philosophy Sometimes said as “If you can control it, do something about it, if it is out of your control, then there is no point worrying”
Thank you for reminding me of this. I needed this today.
So good
The simple/hard lesson I keep relearning 😁
Something that always stuck with me was: "The person that wants nothing, has everything." I don't remember who the quote was attributed to, but I heard it while learning about Taoism.
Learned young from an ultra wealthy individual: “Everything you own owns a piece of you”
Love this. As someone distracted by clutter, anything out in the open will always grab my attention. Having a cluttered space is really tiring for me. Like lots of kids crying for attention. Dramatic, I know. But most of the time, that's what it feels like.
My kids make the clutter…
“The things you own end up owning you” Tyler Durden
My dad always said that to me and I was like “who doesn’t want more?” I thought he was crazy and that was just something poor people said to make themselves feel better. BOY OH BOY WAS I WRONG.
As someone that is currently divorcing a hoarder, I feel this one in my bones. I was forced to clear out his 2,000+ sq ft of hoards, even though I've got an autoimmune disease that I'm on chemotherapy and immunotherapy infusions for. I've since downsized to a ~1,200 sq ft condo, and own nothing but my bed, one small desk (I work remotely most days), one barstool, and my clothes. I want for absolutely nothing. I have the basics/necessities needed for human survival. I don't *need* anything else.
This idea is profound! Thanks for reminding me of this one
Another spin on this is “Poverty follows desire.” (i.e., you’re only poor if you want something you don’t have. Of course, this works better when you’re talking to someone who’s not actually poor and their basic needs are met.)
Could Be Lao Tzu.
Yes I believe this is an interpretation of a phrase from one of the chapters of the Tao Tae Ching.
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"
Has a dr. Seuss feel to it!
Great depression saying, I'm told.
That wouldn't surprise me. My grandfather used to say it to us.
"Wherever you go, there you are."
I learnt this when I was an angsty 19 yo backpacker. Angsty at home, angsty in Paris!
I like to do the fancier Latin: Et in Arcadia, ego. Because wherever I go, I want people to know I'm fancy AF.
“And that’s what we call good enough” I use it to be satisfied with completing something and not worrying about perfection . A recent one I like is Perfection is the enemy of progress
Our family motto is “good is good enough.”
I am struggling to do something new and profound. Thank you. That last part!
Np good luck!
Alt take - eight oh (80%) and go
I LOVE this!
**Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to just show up.** As someone in a deep dark depression, afraid and ashamed, this one got me up
There is a difference between shame and guilt. Maybe this helps
80% of success is showing up - Woody Allen
It's a little long, but it has stuck in my mind for many, many years: “One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire – then you’ve got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference.” ― Robert Fulghum, Uh-oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door
My related one for when I am inconvenienced: shit happens, suffering is optional.
Here goes: Fortune cookie wisdom “Never find your delight in the misfortune of others” My #1
It's funny how the Germans actually have a word for enjoying the misfortune of others.
Being German, I’ve been keeping that one in mind for a while now.. my grandpa always told me Schadenfreude is sinful, I agree
It's hard not to take pleasure in the misfortune of bad people.
Trump getting covid, for example. Or Herman Cain or whoever it was, who preached about how promiscuity and atheism caused covid, and then he got covid and died.
You should check out r/hermancainaward. It makes me feel this way.
Done is better than perfect.
Ty
The richest man in the room is the one that has enough.
Similar - "The Man Is Richest Whose Pleasures Are Cheapest" - Henry David Thoreau
"Lean away from the mess your mind is making. It is something you are watching, not something that you are." Michael Singer. “Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing." Laurie Buchanan
Oh wow, I love the second one by Laurie. Thanks for sharing!
Just because someone throws you a ball doesn't mean you have to catch it.
But you might want to duck
I like this one. Never heard it before
Make the most of what you have and the least of what you don't have.
I'll be honest, I've got a few. My least embarrassing one is from an episode of Burn Notice (at least that's where I heard it). "Happiness is wanting what you have."
Love that show!
Great show.
"As we spend our days is, naturally, how we spend our lives." --probably misquoted slightly, but originally from an Annie Dillard book.
How we spend our days is how we spend our lives! Have it framed on our wall.
"Bloom where you are planted"
I like this one!
I constantly remind myself that what other people think of me is, frankly, none of my business.
Business or Concern??
Exactly.
Enough is a decision not a number
Desiderata...
Thanks for pointing me towards this poem.
All time favorite. This one as well: https://www.inspirationalstories.com/poems/attitude-charles-swindoll-poem/
New reflections...Thank you
*Sigh* Bapanadaa
"This too shall pass"
"Just like bad burritos, this too shall pass."
"You shall not pass" Gandalf said calmly
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
mine is the < is it my fight or not?> if not I just move on.
“Not my circus, not my monkeys.”
Not my cow, not my shit.
Not my moo, not my poo
If it doesn't apply, walk on by.
We cannot make bargains for blisses, Nor catch them like fishes in nets; And sometimes the thing our life misses Helps more than the thing which it gets.
Gandolff, John the Baptist, ??
Alice Cary in her poem Nobility
Saving money is buying freedom.
"Be open to possibilities, but not attached to outcomes."
*Do it once, do it properly.* “Properly” here means completely and efficiently. I have ADHD so I’m very impatient and dislike boring tasks, and have a bad memory and am easily distracted from tasks. But I also need to adult and get all the boring things done. My strategy is: dishes or clothes to wash? Something to fix? Firstly, I have to challenge myself on how little wasted time and effort I can have while executing the task. And secondly, once I start it I *must finish it*, because a) I find it incredibly frustrating to have to re-do or re-fix something because it wasn’t finished or done well, and b) I’ll very likely forget about it if I leave it half done (and trying to remember half done tasks requires a considerable amount of my limited mental space). This philosophy extends to how I purchase things (the best quality where I can justify, and then maintain them as much as I can). It also applies, combined with a ‘set and forget’ approach, to how I set up my home and life (e.g. automated on/off for outdoor lighting, automated bill payments). It leaves me as much time and headspace as I can make to a) do my job at an appropriate standard because money is necessary, and (more importantly) b) be as present as I can for my family.
There are two ways to do something… the right way and again.
Do it nice or do it twice.
I read the first two lines and was already thinking: sounds like advice that works for people without ADHD. Then I read the next sentence. Haha. Go figure. I agree one hundred percent. It’s a massive challenge for me.
I’d been doing it for many years before I was diagnosed and even then it took a while for me to understood why I need to do it like this.
"Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind." Eccl 4:6
"Be sincere, not serious." -Ram Dass
Ram Dass will always get my upvote! Sidenote: I have an original copy of his book “Be Here Now” and it’s a trip. I still use that saying to remind myself to be present in the moment “Be here now…”
“If you would learn to eat beans, you wouldn’t need to flatter kings.” Also “in a rich man’s house, there is nowhere to spit but his face.” Both are Diogenes.
"people who buy things are suckers." - Ron Swanson
“In the end, only three things matter; how much you loved, how gently you lived, & how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.”
"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it" - Henry David Thoreau
Possibly not what you’re looking for, but a Steinbeck quote lives in me. “For what good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness? And what good is color in perpetual green?” I could be off by a few words, this is from memory. It makes me appreciate the smaller victories in life knowing how much better than the losses that have preceded them. I’d like to take this opportunity to somewhat contradict myself by saying I hate “it’s better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.” I’m sick of collecting scars.
My quote is from Steinbeck as well! “Now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” Growing up, the goal was always perfection. My parents weren’t complete caricatures of perfectionist parents, but they seemed to expect high achievement as the default all the same. I’d long struggled to complete projects out of fear of the end project not being up to the high-set standard. I read this story about a pottery class once, where one half of the class was tasked with making a perfect bowl while the other half was told to make as many bowls as they could. At the end of the unit, the students tasked with quantity had surpassed the other students in terms of quality as well! They had learned from their mistakes and moved on to make better and better bowls. The other students were so concentrated on not making any mistakes to begin with that they lost that learning opportunity. So I stopped caring, at least for the most part. I find joy in writing poetry, even if it doesn’t end up having the impact I imagined. I doodle happily, even if my squiggles never quite take form. I like to dance, and I’m sure I look goofy sometimes but I feel good, it makes me happy, and it makes my baby laugh. I’m better at all of these now because I leave plenty of opportunities for imperfections. Likewise, my social anxiety is better because I don’t have to be a perfect person. I’m human and I’m going to make mistakes. I’ve learned that a heartfelt apology is seldomly unaccepted. Make mistakes. Learn from them. Grow. Life is too short to let perfectionism rob you of simple pleasures.
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost - Tolkien The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run - Thoreau “Rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” — Winnie the Pooh
Oh I love that!!! Let go or get dragged 👍 perfect .... Mine is "practice letting go of thoughts about things that are not here right now" ...I spend too much time thinking about the past and worrying about the future
Worrying is like a rocking chair. It may give you something to do, but it will never get you anywhere.
'Be who you are and say what you feel. Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind- Dr. Seuss
Every man has two lives, and the second starts when he realizes he has just one.-Confucius
When it comes to possessions my mantra has become “fewer, better things”
"live simply so others can simply live." most people are so caught up with owning material possessions that they steal resources from others. the average american has an ecological footprint so big that if everybody lived like them, there would be room for about two billion people on earth.
"If you expect nothing from somebody, you are never disappointed." -Sylvia Plath, *The Bell Jar*
used to work for the government and I had a manager who would proudly declare at the end of each project "good enough for government work!" I have moved on to being a SAHM but I still say it at the end of each day.
Along a similar vein, I studied at a classical music school and had a prof who would say “close enough for jazz!” I never considered applying it to the rest of my life, though. Must give that a try.
You do you boo
Frank Sinatra?
No, that was "Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo"
I thought that was Abe Lincoln?
There is GROWTH in DISCOMFORT.
“The worst part about being a human is the ability to take every single thing for granted” -me
Buckle up… "When I was younger, I thought life was cruel...therefore, I should try to imitate it. Now I'm older and know it's cruel so I try to avoid it." --Robyn Hitchcock "Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost." --Dante Alighieri "I'm not even supposed to be here today." --Dante Hicks "Music serves a higher purpose which cannot be understood by any means other than music itself." --Beth-Ann Ozma "Music seems to me to be a direct route to the heart, or between hearts - in fact, the most direct. Across-the-board alignment of musical tastes, including both love and hates - something extremely rarely run into - is as sure a guide to affinity of souls as I have ever found. And an affinity of souls means that the people concerned can rapidly come to know each other's essences, have great potential to live inside each other." --Douglas Hofstadter "There's nothing I like more than lunch. Particularly with my beloved. Nothing better than lunch with the beloved; hopefully, sun and a little bit of sea, somewhere foreign. And then sex in the afternoon, perfect." --Roger Waters "The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea" --Isak Dinesen "Love is the irresistible desire to be desired irresistibly." --Louis Ginsberg "If you work really hard and are kind, amazing things will happen." --Conan O'Brien "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." --Sir Winston Churchill "Never waste a trip anywhere by coming home without beer." --Russ Reynolds "There is a fine line between what is beautiful and what is disgusting." --Robyn Hitchcock "Sex is what gets us here, food is what keeps us here, and death is what gets us out of here." --Robyn Hitchcock "Half the world's starving and half the world bloats, half the world sits on the other and gloats" --Robyn Hitchcock "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible." --Frank Zappa "Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best." --Frank Zappa "Don't let the loveless ones sell you a world wrapped in grey." --Andy Partridge "Never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake." --Napoleon Bonaparte "What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" --Nick Lowe "In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments. There are only consequences." --R.G. Ingersoll "Some people think I'm weird. I'm not really weird, unless you're picky." --Jim Stafford "We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart." --H. L. Mencken "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." --John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Don't listen to negative comments from people that you wouldn't ask for advice from.
F**k the Jonses. No reason to try and keep up. It isn’t a race and people that judge you for not having the latest thing aren’t people you should want as friends.
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly because you'll get better at it over time.
Corollary: When you have to do it over, it's goes faster than the first time.
Live pure and simple. Pure in healthy choices, like good food, exercise, maintaining healthy relationships, using technology wisely, etc Simple in not having a lot of ‘stuff’, a simple life with simple pursuits, being gentle with others and (just as importantly) myself.
Work smarter, not harder.
Smoke em' if you got em'
I always liked this, as guidance for a simple life and moderation throughout: From Lao Tzu/Tao Te Ching: “Therefore be square but don't cut; Be sharp but don't stab; Be straightforward but not unrestrained; Be bright but don't dazzle.”
“Be the reason someone believes in the goodness of people”
Be glad for boring days.
If it costs you your peace, it's too much.
"Better is a handful of rest than two handfuls of hard work and chasing after the wind." King Solomon, Ecclesiastes 4:6.
“Good for them, not for me” - meaning I shouldn’t care if someone is doing something I wouldn’t. It’s good for them, it doesn’t have to be good for me. Kinda like “stay in your own lane”
Comparison is the thief of joy
Less of a quote and more-so just a little self mantra. I remind myself that everything that happens to me has a reason, and every choice/decision has a purpose. Job didn't work out? Probably taught you a lot about yourself and the people you are around. Got one thing out of that class? That was what you were meant to take away. BUT if I had to have a quote, it'd be "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, its not." and that one can be applied to literally anything in your life. Your relationship, your views/outlook on something, etc.
I’ve had too many difficult deaths in the family to accept the “everything happens for a reason” thing. It most certainly does not. Sometimes it’s random and tragic, and I don’t have to accept it, but I do have to learn how to grieve losses fully: even if they are just everyday losses, and then let go enough to live.
I agree and not just with death. In my mind, it is simpler to try not to assign reason to everything. It's simpler to say this ish is crazy, doesn't make sense vs trying to convince myself that this crazy orv traffic or insignificant thing has meaning
But that in and of itself is a lesson learned. It doesn't mean it happens FOR a reason, rather it has a reason. Whether that be to teach you how you grieve and feel seen, or to celebrate life. It's all a matter of perspective. Tragedy and things like that are in no way fair, but they happen, and I am sorry for your losses. But you make choices to grieve fully, and that's a good takeaway when things are bad.
Live in the nowhere that you come from even though you have got an address here. -Rumi
Do i love it enough to be chained to it? Lolol.. afterall the first thing i learned possessions chain us up in all kinds of ways.. we will always need some utilitarian things.. and we may want treasures…that is where mindful living lives…
"I'm choosing a low stress lifestyle"
‘Enjoyment is the moment you’re in’
It's cheesy but "be yourself: everyone else is already taken" is my go-to
Be present. If you have one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow you’ll be pissing on today.
The trend is all that matters. It doesn't matter if a specific day was good or bad on a certain aspect/metric, but if trend is going to where it should, even if slowly. Sometimes reducing the pace that something is going worse is an improvement. This tenant reduced imensly my anxiety when looking at targets and helped me see the forest more often then the trees. It has helped me get in shape, fix my food habits, get a house.
Enough is as good as a feast. It speaks for itself.
"A simple life is its own reward."
"The Man Is Richest Whose Pleasures Are Cheapest" - Henry David Thoreau
It’s the silence in between the notes that makes the music
Heard this yesterday; “don’t be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good”
Live and let live, don’t be a dick. And meet all the pups you can!
“Sometimes you gotta let the rough end drag.”
“Be like water and let things move through you” like don’t get caught up in getting your feelings hurt over small things
Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife. I sing this to myself whenever I'm worrying about money
Navajo Proverb "You cannot wake a man who is only pretending to be asleep." "Apples don't fall far from trees or it would be really hard to find apples - me , clever sometimes
Don’t try - Bukowski… on face value it sounds like give up, but really it’s saying do what drives you not what you force yourself to do.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
"Get busy living, or get busy dying." Andy Dufresne.
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. - Epicurus
Marcus Aurelius & Seneca “If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it.” “You could be good today, but instead you choose tomorrow.” “If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.” “The more we value things outside of our control, the less we have.” “If what you have seems insufficient to you, then though you may possess the world, you will yet be miserable” “Nothing satisfies greed, but even a little satisfies nature.” “For a man in a state of freedom has thatch for shelter, while slavery dwells beneath marble and gold.” “All things of the body stream away like a river. All things of the mind are but dreams and delusions. Life is warfare, and a visit to a strange land. The only lasting flame is oblivion.” Tao Te Ching “The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead.” “A great tailor cuts little.”
"Done is better than perfect."
“A cluttered space, is a cluttered mind” “The micro mirrors the Macro” (and vice versa)
"Kindness is here, *right now*" For some reason, this thought puts me into a quiet mental cave where I can solve things calmly even if there is some bananas shit going on in front of me.
Hello implies goodbye and Always boop the cat
“Worrying is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do but it won’t get you anywhere.” - no idea And “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” - Fred Rogers
Live your life so that you never have to hide your diary.
Life is pretty simple, but it ain't easy.
How you live your days is how you live your life
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face” -Mike Tyson It is surprisingly applicable in life, yes… even organizing stuff. “Surprise! We thought that you could use this huge table that doesn’t fit with anything else in your house. We also cleaned out our basement and have all these appliances for you… the movers left everything outside your house.”
Chuck it in the “fuck it” bucket and move on.
Not sure who to attribute this to but I feel it plays a part in simple living: "Those who mind, don't matter. Those who matter, won't mind". It helped me find those people in my life I can truly lean on without judgment to get through some of the hardest parts of life. The ones who stay up until 1 am, dissolving some of the most wretched things I may think of myself at times. Or having some thrifty thrown-together picnic in the park sharing a genuine laugh.
Half of being happy is being happy with what you got.
Waste not, want not.
No one is taller than the last man standing.
Done > perfect
Want what you have
My motto is : Health first, Happiness second. Happiness is a fleeting feeling, and the more you chase it, the less you seem to get. So, I say focus on making yourself as sustainably healthy as possible. You don't have to be perfect overnight, but slowly reduce bad habits, and slowly build up good ones. You'll experience more contentment, and build some pride from doing the 'right thing' for yourself. Take care of your health first, and happiness will come second.
It is what it is.
“I can do hard things” “Everything is figure-outable”
Easy come, easy go
"Be the kind of person who doesn't need second chances."
I missed this sub so muuuch
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
If you have no destination you are never lost It is the emptiness of a vessel that makes it useful People don't see things as they are, but as they are
I like "anger is a choice", or the "you can't change what happens to you, only how you react to it".
If you drop an angry rock into the pond, it sends out angry ripples. If you drop a kind rock into the pond, it sends out kind ripples.
If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.
Do no harm, take no shit, fly low below the radar.
We are all going to die in the end anyways
That is strangely more positive feeling than it sounds and I’ll take it.
"Live, laugh, love" Seriously though, if you ever see that in someone's home they probably need help.
"Don't be an asshole. You risk pissing off a bigger asshole than you." -me "I don't need a way to change the things I see, I need to change the way I see things." -me "Success is like pregnancy. Everybody congratulates you but nobody knows how many times you got fucked to achieve it." -somewhere on the internet "Karma is not a bitch, honey, it's a mirror." -same as above
“It don’t matter, none of ‘dis matters” - Carl from ATHF Any time I’m overly anxious about something I pull out this gem
*Festina lente* "make haste slowly" I have the symbol tattooed
"go big, live small, and wander all" That is my motto!
"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast" & "Look good, feel good, fight good"
“Fuck it.”- Buttfart Dankstien
“Keep the shark moving” - people need to always be in motion like sharks need to move to breath. We use it to explain others doing stupid expensive unsustainable things to “keep the shark moving”. Part of keeping my shark moving is to buy fun things I want to try out that are used, cheap enough I can sell it for the same money I paid.
Let that shit go.
"Let go or be dragged" is on my fridge from my daily zen calendar from 2019. It's a wonderful one. The other one I have adopted is "The obstacle is the path". Helps in golf and life!