words to live by
 

I've come up with a mantra to try and avoid disappointments and decrease my stress level, and I find it suits me well, even if it is rather pessimistic:

"Maintain low expectations. Assume nothing."

Does anybody else have a similar short phrase that sums up their approach to living in the modern world, or any particular aspect of it?

Had to do it:

Quote:

Originally Posted by World's King We all know the person you divorce isn't the same person you marry.

Then there is Kurt Vonnegut:
"Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt."

Me:
"Everything you feel is just a temporary state of being."

"I have walked these paths that you are on many times before. Do not ask for any warnings. I cannot teach you the things that you will come to understand on your own, regardless if you want to learn them or not."

I can't afford to think like that. My parents wouldn't allow it. I don't see why you're allowing low expectations to rule your view of life...

I like to have goals and push myself to the limit. I also like to make my parents proud.

Although JS has some good sayings I'll mention... "It's Only Money."
Staying laid back keeps things going well too.

Also since that's your mantra...don't bother trying anything if you don't expect anything. I just can't comprehend that kind of thinking. I Just can't. It seems too negative for me.

"Through the night, we lead double lives." Where can we be ourselves? Nowhere?

Doesn't sound like something to live by, no, it sounds like something with which we're enslaved.

For better or worse. A system of survival. That which promotes stability, predictability, the mundane.

...

I always bust out the old faithful, myself:

We are what we do.

I feel the same way. Goals are important to me, and I don't achieve them for others.. I work toward them for myself. Floating around without some sort of goal in mind wouldn't fly for me.

My personal mantra:

Believe in yourself above all else. And make yourself worth believing in.

"I can do anything I want to do, but I have to do it."

"Let's see how far we can take this...."

"If you want something, then just go get it."

These have become much more apparent to me in the past year.

I learned a very long time ago that I ended up being able to do some very cool shit in my life because I wasnt afraid to ask and live by the "The worst they can say is no" mantra

"Can I affect it? If not, don't stress it."

I never was a boyscout but 'Be prepared.' covers most of it.

Dreams are a lot like gasoline: get you places but too much and they'll blow up in your face. Not gonna lie, if it weren't for my dreams which later became my goals, I doubt I'd be alive.

It's not a matter of not having goals. There's a difference between striving for something or setting a goal towards something, and automatically expecting that you will get it or that you have it coming to you. Perhaps I should have been clearer and said, "maintain low expectations of the outside world," or of factors external to myself.

I want to learn not to expect that my actions, or the actions of others, will have a positive outcome. Better to be realistic and expect that things may likely be worse so I don't set myself up for disappointment. That doesn't mean that I don't fight for what I want or need, or that I avoid taking chances.

For the record, I was raised with only the highest of expectations and constantly strove to make my parents, and myself, proud. I continue to fight to appease my own perfectionist tendencies.

"You can dress up a jackass but that doesn't make it a thoroughbred." Meaning:
Do your best from the start. Don't do it half ass and expect a quick fix ending to give you desired results.

I prefer "Expect the best, prepare for the worst" or "Don't curse the iceberg, load the lifeboats."

Fate will often spare. an undoomed man, if his courage is good.
-Beowulf

"There is no satisfying desires, even by a shower of gold pieces; he who knows that desires have a short taste and cause pain, he is wise."
—The Dhammapada

There is more where that came from.

This is me; if you don't like it, tough shit!

"Tug on anything at all and you'll find it connected to everything else in the universe" - John Muir

It reminds me that even in the shittiest of times - everything comes together in one way or another.

"Expect nothing, take advantage of everything"

"do whats good, come what may". May not bring u happiness though, but i really aspire to live by the phrase.

What is good in life?

Anybody who has served on the Earth-walking grunt side of the US military knows this to be very true.

You know that's based on a comic book, right?

Shouldn't you be quoting Vonnegut or something? :orly:

"If you really want to hurt your parents and you don't have enough nerve to be homosexual, the least you can do is go into the arts."

—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

i dont really have a particular mantra.
in some situations, i use the same one shani uses: the worst they can say is no.

but usually, mine is:

keep going.

the self-doubt/self-pity version comes from beckett: i can't go on. i'll go on.

protect what matters to you.
do that, what matters to you.
keep doing it.
you have no idea how far you can go.
and there's nothing but the going.

You should know that I'm not a genius and thus rarely quote them.

Mmm, I favor quotes from people who've butchered others for profit.

And I thought it came from a book about our favorite Mongol warlord... Genghis Khan.

...

I believe the actual quote was something like:

...

Clearly, the Austrian Oak said it best when he uttered:

"To crush yoah enemies, see dem driven befoah you, and to hear de lammentation of de vimmin!"

Say it with me, now!

There is a reason why Schwarzenegger never played Plato.

... and that's because Plato never had a life journey that involved the M60E3 machine gun.

...

"We should strive to define ourselves not by the things we have, but by the things that cannot be stolen."

there is a reason, but not a good reason.
personally, i think arnold has been overlooked as an actor who could play plato.
i am imagining something like a new james cameron bloat-astic filmic epic, maybe:

HEMLOCK: THE PLATO STORY

or

an indy film:

JUST PLAIN PLATO

all featuring arnold-as-plato.

you can do it too: it just gets better the more you think about it.

It is said that King Solomon, feeling blue, asked his advisors to find him a ring he had seen in a dream. "When I feel satisfied I’m afraid that it won’t last. And when I don’t, I am afraid my sorrow will go on forever. Find me the ring that will ease my suffering." Eventually an advisor met an old jeweler who carved into a simple gold band the Hebrew inscription "gam zeh ya’avor" – "this too shall pass." When the king received his ring and read the inscription his sorrows turned to joy and his joy to sorrows, and then both gave way to equanimity.

Works for me...

I'm going to add to the Vonnegut quotes in here:

"I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

"Make love when you can. It's good for you."

"Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people don't care about them. You are not alone.'"

"Have you ever noticed that everyone that's against abortion you wouldn't wanna fuck in the first place?"

- George Carlin


"There are as many types of love as there are moments in time."

- Billy Shakespeare

I like UPOD.

UPOD= Under-promise, Over deliver.

Originally from a cartoon character, brought to my attention by my best friend, and known by another TFPer: "Just keep swimming...just keep swimming..." Repeat until comforted.

"There will be an answer, let it be."

Always calms me down. Actually, that entire song is beautiful.

Wait!! I know that one...it won't come to mind right know...but really, i heard it. oh yeah, its from finding nemo, the blue fish said or sang it.

Anyhow, any1 who wants to find quick happiness really should try watching spongebob squarepants. Its my favouritest show, apart from the simpsons.

//shudders//

I hate that show... The only reason it was ever on in my presence was because my friend had an annoying parrot that would squawk and swear all day long. The moment you put Spongebob on the tube it would climb in circles in the cage, eyes fixed to the screen...

Crazy...

Another favorite cartoon quote: "Better out than in, I always say!". Shrek. I know, I know, but it works for me. Get the negativity out, there's no point in carrying it around. I'm also a big fan of "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

:D

I don't think I repeat mantras over and over in my head... or if I do, I can't remember any right now. :) But here are quite a few sayings/concepts that have always stuck with me, and occur to me on a regular basis:

* We are all immigrants. Take it back to Olduvai Gorge, people.

* Silence is complacency. If you do not speak out against what you believe to be wrong, then you are contributing to the power and guilt of those who perpetuate those wrongs.

* Practice situational awareness. My crew coach (a Marine) pounded this into my head every day for 4 years. ALWAYS BE AWARE of what is going on immediately around you, as much as possible--your lives and others depend on it. (I was steering 60 ft. crew shells at the time, with 8 people rowing backwards and trusting me, so he was being literal--but the point still stands.)

* "Það kemur í ljós." An Icelandic phrase meaning, "That will come to light," or ... wait and see, cross that bridge when you come to it, etc. I find myself saying this a lot lately, due to not having a lot of answers about the geography of our immediate future.

* I am not really that important, and neither are my decisions. This may sound self-defeating and an encouragement to having low self-esteem, but as someone who thinks WAY TOO MUCH and wonders about the eternal implications of every decision I make, whether or not it's "right" or "wrong," etc... this is something I had to learn, and have to keep reminding myself about. The universe is unfolding as it should, regardless of my wee existence.

* Everyone has a story to tell, regardless of how much I like or dislike that person. Listening to those stories is key to treating others with empathy and compassion.

* Because I am privileged, I share responsibility for the well-being of the underprivileged and oppressed. Self-explanatory. We are responsible for each other.

* There are two kinds of people in this world: assholes, and people who know they are assholes. Also self-explanatory. :)

I read a selection for my writing class this weekend from Paolo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" titled "The Banking Concept of Education" that made me realize just how this idea applies to my own life, and what I do as a caretaker and teacher of children.

Those of you that haven't read any Freire...you should.