What wisdom from someone else has stuck with you?

I grew up in a racist town, and was indoctrinated on racism in my youth. It never sat right with me, but even so, I still struggled with racist thoughts that would jump in to my head when I encountered indigenous folk.

Someone said to me though that it's not the first thought that jumps in to your head that matters, because that's what you've been trained to think. What matters is what you do after that thought has appeared.

And that's stuck with me. It helped me be aware of the impact of indoctrinated hate, whilst also not getting tied up with guilt over my inability to completely purge myself of the indoctrinated bullshit.

It allowed me to retrain myself, and to make sure the shit I was raised with doesn't get passed on to my own kid.

Don't commit more than one crime at a time

More of a famous quote I guess, but:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Since I first heard it, I've been far less annoyed / paranoid about other peoples actions, at work in particular.

Get ready, because this is kind of cheesy stuff, but these two pieces of sports advice, taken together, have guided me for years.

First: a mentor of mine who was a pool shark taught me that when you're playing pool, there is always a best shot to take. Sometimes, when you've got no good options in front of you you want to just do nothing or quit. But no matter what, billiards offers a finite set of options of where to try and aim the cue, and if you rank them from best to worst, there is always a best. When you're in a bad situation, you find it and you take the best option. Often, that's either a harm reduction strategy, a long-shot that feels impossible, or a combo of both. But if you always do this you'll usually suffer far less harm in the aggregate, and if you take enough long shots you'll occasionally achieve a few incredibly improbable wins.

Second: A kayaking instructor taught me -- and this I'm told is true in many similar sports -- you go where your focus is, so to evade a problem, focus on the way past. If you see a rock, don't stare it it, you'll hit it. It doesn't matter if your brain is thinking "I gotta go anywhere except that rock!" If you're looking at, you're heading into it. If you don't want to hit the rock, instead you have to look at wherever it is you DO want to go. It takes a bit of practice, because your brain sees "rock!" more easily than "smooth water flowing between two rocks". But that's how you get down a river, and it's also how you work through almost any other problems in life that are rushing at you: don't focus ON them, focus on whatever is the preferred alternative. This is especially useful if the alternative is sort of a non-thing, like an empty gap between two problems. And it often is.

Taken together, you get the basic approach that has steered my problem solving throughout adulthood. And it really works.

I work in an environment that can have some tight timeline, high stress moments. People often deal with this with a kind of controlled panic- "Hi. This thing is not working." "Fuck, this is not working, quick, try that thing! Argh! Not working either! Oh no, shits fucked. Shit... Ok, try the other thing! Fuck, call Gary, they might know what to do!"

Then I worked with a person who had this totally different approach. When shit hit the fan, they just super calmly looked around, and said "That's a bit boring." Just that phrase shifted my whole perspective on the industry. Just treat the problem as a minor annoyance, and you'll see that it's rarely worth getting panicked about.

The other thing they taught me- no matter how urgent it is, never run. Running makes it look like we fucked up. And we don't fuck up, we just have the next thing that needs to be fixed.

Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

I first heard it when I was a kid but didn't truly understand it until 9/11. The more time goes on, the more our shitty timeline proves it to be true.

That there's an aspect of every relationship that always starts the same. It's two people bringing richness to each other, almost like Kings and Queens coming together bringing their lands and wealth with them.

Over time though that richness can fade and instead of bringing richness they start begging for it from the other person. If you find that you're in a relationship with someone and that both of you have turned into "beggars" whose life can only be complete if the other person performs a task or meets an expectation, the relationship will weaken and that weakness will invite other problems.

The solution, if you have become a "beggar" in a relationship, is to mentally detach yourself from the other person and spend some time alone trying to reconnect with what made you a rich resource in the first place. You must remind yourself what it was that made you a King or Queen and focus on regrowing those seeds of richness and independence from the other person. Then, once you have placed that crown back on your head you can return to the other person and offer your richness once again.

I've never forgotten that and it's led to a happy marriage for 14 years. Also works with friendships and working/business relationships.

A smart person learns from their mistakes, but a truly wise person learns from other people's mistakes.

Idk who said them first but I’ll never forget the men who gave me these two things:

• You are never out of options until you choose to stop looking for them.

And

• Money comes and money goes but it is never worth fighting about. (The guy who gave me this one was going through an awful divorce and had a lot of regrets about how he handled things. I think that context matters here.)

I you want to do something, you'll find a way.
If you don't want to, you'll find an excuse.

Sometimes I'm finding reasons not to do something (like exercise), and have to remember to stop looking for excuses and start looking for solutions.

When you feel uncomfortable, just let it be there. Dont try to push it away, feel it.

“I shouldn’t have saved so much”. Said a friend a generation older than me. He retired when he realized he didnt need to work any more and that he wasn’t going to burn through all of his money. He said he would have rather spent it while he was younger and enjoy it.

Sex is like air. It's not a big deal unless you're not getting any.

When someone shows you who they are, believe it the first time.

Also, if everyone you meet is nice, it's because you're a nice person. Conversely, if you think everyone's an asshole, you're the asshole.

Poop on company time.

Two from my mom-

I cut; you chose.

If a boy will cheat with you he will cheat on you.

Two from the same guy.

Remember, you're not sick in traffic, you are traffic.

If you don't have time to do it correctly now, how are you going to have time to fix it later?

“Don’t sweat the petty things, and don’t pet the sweaty things.”

"Like your job. Love your wife." - Dell from Trains, Planes, and Automobiles. You can generalize that to say, your job is just a means to an end. Don't work a job you hate, but look elsewhere for true fulfillment in life.

In general terms, people as individuals = good. People in groups = bad.

"Stairs are lots of little floors which makes it easier to get between the bigger floors" - Philomena Cunk

"The good things won't be as good and the bad things won't be as bad as the mind lead you to believe." (Unknown source)

"Slow is smooth and smooth is fast"

This has helped me learn nearly every physical skill I know.

Maya Angelou: 'When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.'

Be a good person, not a nice person.

Both destruction and development play on the lap of a teacher.

Personally, this is one I given myself...

We're all idiots. It just depends on how much of an idiot you want to be.

That startrek quote about making no mistakes and still losing

"By their fruits you will recognise them." - Big J

When people say A but they have only done/been B, assume B (even more so if they don't even acknowledge the discrepancy).

And yes, I agree, people are fundamentally good 😊, which is why great immorality shocks and disgusts us (well, most of us around the world at least): we're witnessing someone deny their humanity and act against it.

As long as the building's still standing and nobody got hurt, it's been a good day.

Don't sweat the rest - especially off the clock.

"If they are willing to cheat with you, they are willing to cheat on you."

When someone gives you a compliment, just accept it.

About drinking- If you think you're talking normal, you're sluring. If you think you're sluring, you're not speaking human.

From a keyboardist in a band- have a good time, all the time

From Billy Idol - Too much is never enough (though I did have to unlearn this latter in life and get into treatment. Still, fun while it lasted)

I tend to look for wisdom in films/shows the most. Here are some of my fav quotes.

1. "Everybody needs help sometimes, Peter. Even Spider-Man"- MJ (Spiderman 3)

2. "I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble. And finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want most—even our dreams." - Aunt May (Spiderman 2)

3. "You gotta let go of that stuff from the past, 'cause it just doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now"- Po (Kung Fu Panda 2)

Paraphrasing from Terrence McKenna.

"The one thing that seems constant through all the years is that... nothing lasts. Nothing lasts. Which is good news for some but will bum out others. Your happiness is slowly turning into something else, while your sadness will also become something else."

"Go to the bathroom when you don't have to go so you don't have to go when you have to go"

Or, er, use the bathroom when one is available so you don't need one and there isn't one there. I can now use the restroom on demand even if it's not much just so I'm not desperate later and can find a better location.

From others in general - Always invest in the things that separate you from the ground; shoes, tires, and your mattress.

From a coach I knew - Every so often sit down and make sure your actions fit with your goals. It's easier to get off course than you think.

From my father - The Hassle Factor. A job can give you three things, enough money to make up for the time you don't have, enough time to make up for the money you don't have, and a sense of satisfaction. If you aren't getting at least two of the three, the job isn't worth the hassle.

You'll never meet a hater doing better* than you.

*Definition of "better" is left as an exercise for the reader

I got told something along the lines of: If I undersell my work, it's like pissing on my own work when I sold it bellow market rates.

I got told this by an old junkie guy who got a DUI and disappeared one day.

If you think people are good, you’re probably right and if you think people are bad, you’re probably right.

I'm not sure if it's objectively right, but I do totally support this because I think it's right "for you" - as in, if you think someone's a bad person they won't be right for you. If you think someone's a good person, they'll be right for you. (This isn't on a first impression basis though)

You choose which emotions to empower and which to discourage. I think Buddha said it?

Basically, you really can choose to focus on the good parts of life/an event and you don't have to let the negatives consume you.

Expanding on the second point: we are what we focus on. if you are practicing to be the type of person who believes people are bad you look for the evidence of bad in people. “Everyone lets me down”. To do this requires discounting and avoiding and ignoring the good that people do.

This means if you do this sort of thing you’re also not that great of a person.

Just imagine being on the other side of it: think of all the nice things you might do for such a person and got overlooked because they focus on complaining about all the bad people in their life all just to prove people are bad.

"if you have a problem, you can either solve it or you can't. If you can fix it, no problem! If you can't, no point in worrying about it!" -from a cartoon sheep from Garfield and Friends, turns out this is writing a bodhisattva.

I'm shit at implementing this wisdom but it's still pretty good.

In regards to having children. "You're going to fuck them up in some way no matter what you do, just try to minimize it"

Never hold onto anything so tightly that you can't let go.

Being is better then having and having is better then seeming.

Ps: If you are reading this share your 2 cents about the above. Came up with it myself!

the grass is greener where you water it

Lots of people on the internet are competing for who is the most contrarian.

Don't apologize for being yourself.

(Unless you're a narcissist. Then you probably should apologize.)

I wonder how many here just quote themselves.

From the safest places come the bravest words - The Sound

Never fart while taking a pee...you might just shit your pants.