"Thinking is easy, acting is difficult. To put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world." --Goethe
In the essay "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young", columnist Mary Schmich (amidst a slew of brilliant advice and observations) said, "Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum." That's the part I really like because it's happy, but she goes on to say, "The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday." Baz Lurhmann turned the whole essay into a spoken-word song called "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen." If you haven't heard it, it's worth a listen.
Or do something about potential trouble, defusing it so that it doesn't cause worry or cause burdens in the future.
In short: learn how to plan for contingencies. Or as they used to say in the Wild West: "We'll head them off at the pass!" Oh, whoops ...
"I have lately learnt to swim And now feel more at home of the ebb and flow of your slim rhythmic tide than in the fully-dressed. couldn't care less restless world outside." Roger McGough, from "Summer with Monica"
"Actors are so fortunate. They can choose whether they will appear in tragedy or in comedy, whether they will suffer or make merry, laugh or shed tears. But in real life it is different. Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Our Guildensterns play Hamlet for us, and our Hamlets have to jest like Prince Hal. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast." --Oscar Wilde
"Only a gentler kinder type of man keeps a parrot and makes of it a constant friend." P.G. Wodehouse.
“That proves you are unusual," returned the Scarecrow; "and I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed.” ― L. Frank Baum, The Land of Oz
"You can't use reason to convince anyone out of an argument that they didn't use reason to get into." Neil deGrasse Tyson.
And you never understood what she's trying to say She talks so clear that the words get in the way from "One More Smoke" (song) by Reverend Glasseye. I may have mentioned it here before, but quoted it at work yesterday. I may have turned my boss onto Reverend Glasseye.
"In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience." --Oscar Wilde
"The most outrageous thing we can do in this world is to accept what happens and fly with it. " Sakyong Mioham, Ruling Your World.
"Don't hesitate; don't think about which way is good or bad. When you do not think about it, you intuitively know which way to go." Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki. "When you reach a fork in the road, take it." Yogi Berra.
"All that we can know about those we have loved and lost is that they would wish us to remember them with a more intensified realization of their reality. What is essential does not die but clarifies. The highest tribute to the dead is not grief, but gratitude." Thornton Wilder.
This really strikes a chord with me. It's one of the most important lessons I learned from my beautiful husband. He expressed gratitude every day, despite his ordeals.
"Those whom the gods love grow young." --Oscar Wilde (I love Wilde's aphorisms. They always have an unexpected but amusing touch about them)
"The experience of 20th-century dictatorships has shown that it is possible for some Christians to live and work in a shockingly unjust society, closing their eyes to all kinds of evil and, indeed, perhaps participating in the evil, at least by default, concerned only with their own compartmentalized life of piety, closed off from everything else on the face of the earth." Thomas Merton, Life and Holiness.
Maturity isn’t about who wins an argument—it’s about knowing when an argument isn’t worth having. It’s realizing that your peace is more valuable than proving a point to someone who has already decided they won’t change their mind. Not every battle needs to be fought. Not every person deserves your explanation. Sometimes, the strongest thing you can do is walk away—not because you have nothing to say, but because you recognize that some people aren’t ready to listen. And that’s not your burden to carry. Helen Mirren
The embodied person I refer to as “me” is also one of the sentient beings I am meant to cultivate boundless compassion toward! I too deserve understanding, loving-kindness, compassion, and protection. It is not selfish to use the finite resources at my disposal—physical, emotional, mental, and material—to look after my personal needs, as long as I generously use them for the well-being of others too. Tara Anand
