“Listening is an art that requires attention over talent, spirit over ego, others over self.” Dean Jackson
Wise Words 2
In the last newsletter I talked about some of the wise words I have heard in my life that help me deal with being a human and remaining fairly sane and doing fairly well at living this life thing. I ended the newsletter by asking if readers had any words of wisdom that guide and help them, and if so, would they please send some to me. And I got a slew of responses Thank you for that; I am glad that what I wrote resonated with so many of you. I am glad also that you were willing to share some of the important words and ideas that help you navigate the world. I love picking up new thoughts and ideas, and I can’t always do that by myself. I often need others to show me things and awaken me to things. You did that for me.
Some of these sayings and quotes were new to me. Some were from people with whom I am familiar. Others were from people I had not heard of. Some were not attributed to any one person but had been floating around the general culture for decades. Still others reminded me of things I had all but forgotten. Thank you for all of them; I needed to encounter them all.
I am a human and such I had to try to “label” and “make order” out of what I received; we humans love to do that. So I spent some time classifying them as I saw them applying to me. Someone else, of course, would probably classify them differently, but what follows is how they resonated with me.
A number of these sayings I would classify as general, “How To Approach the Day-to-Day World’-suggestions for staying in a good frame of mind and emotionally balanced as we go through our normal days;
Nothing is constant but change.
The love you take is equal to the love you make.
It’s the journey that matters; not the destination
It takes only 17 muscles to smile, but 43 to frown
Others were about offering comfort and solace and navigating tough times:
“If the pain is that real, then the love must have been that strong.”
"Pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses our understanding. It is the bitter
potion by which the physician within heals our sick self. Therefore, trust the
physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility."
"They're never far from us, you know...the dead. No morin' a breath.
You let that last one go and you're with them again."
“Transitions are almost always signs of growth, but they can bring feelings of
loss and hurt. To get somewhere new, we may have to leave somewhere else behind.”
“We have friends because we can’t always carry the weight of the world by
ourselves.”
“We fall apart: friends and family help put us back together”
And some seemed to be aspirational/inspirational or about
personal values:
"Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in."
“Love is the hardest lesson”
"I have three wishes for you. I wish you the joy of a purposeful life. I wish you
new worlds and the vision to see them. I wish you the decency and nobility
of which you are capable."
"Never give in - never, never, never in nothing great or small, large or petty,
never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense, never yield to
the overwhelming might of the enemy."
“Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light,
not our darkens that most frightens us.”
“If you don’t stand for something, then you’ll fall for anything”
“If there is no struggle there is no progress”.
“What you do makes a difference., you decide the type of difference you
want to make.”
“When you are faced with a tough choice, imagine that your mother is
standing over you and watching. What do you want Mom to see?”
There were more quotes, but these were the ones that stood out to me. I thought about putting in the sources for the quotes, but I decided not to. I wanted to let the ideas shine through. Again, I am amazed at the power of human connection; the way we can help, teach, inspire, support, and grow with each other. You have given me a lot. I am so glad that the human experience is not a solitary one. Thank you all.
(To those of you who are new to the mailing list and curious about previous newsletters, go to our website and click on “John’s Blog” www.dukesofdestiny.com
