What are your most important philosophies of life?

[BusyNAbroad]

What has/have been the most important "advice"/"ideas" you ever got that have impacted your way of looking at and living life, and that you believe may have shaped your personal history throughout most years?

By "advice" I mean anything, from an entire book, to a whole religious or philosophical thought, a teaching you learned through cultural tradition, something your friends or parents taught to you, a scientific theory, or any specific quote by an important or unimportant individual...

If you have time and are willing to share, please also tell what pros and cons this advice had in your life.

One of the first concepts I read about while being curious about psychology and reading some books that were in my parents shelves was self-fulfilling prophecy. I was around 14-15 years old at the time. Whatever you expect in a specific situation, hope or fear, will influence your metabolism, your circulation, breath rhythm, posture, and through many stages your entire attitude and behavior, and as a consequence it is likely that what you expected fulfills itself.
Reading about this (and there is still scientific evidence supporting it) made me think of the larger implications it has on so many other fields, such as Hope in general. Hope for humanity, hope in politics, religion, economics.
It made me very optimistic and successful in almost all my non-romantic personal relationships with other people. It's one of the main reasons I try to erase all kinds of prejudice from my instinctive behaviors, and what has made me more and more altruistic over time.
Sometimes this optimism didn't meet reflection in other people, i.e. the difference between my optimism and their pessimism/cynicism was too large that it created some tension, but I learned (and am still learning) how to bridge this gap through humor - often self-humor.
It may also help in romantic relationships, however, I unfortunately never had the chance to actively apply it because I was so confused between hundreds of theories, social norms and especially "seduction advice" that somehow outshadowed my optimism. Next time, I will try

One thing I learned by myself since I was a child was that working hard on getting the first prize (e.g. at school competitions, exams, etc. anything involving climbing a rank ladder) will in any case make you "successful".
In mid-school I was a total looser at grades, among the worst in my class, and wasted my time doing nothing. After I was mocked by one of my best friends, I got so angry that I wanted to be the best in class. Within 3-4 months I had reached rank 3 out of 28 pupils, and I kept up this pace throughout highschool, where I sometimes also reached rank 1 without even wanting it!
I recently found a wonderful quote that more or less embodies this:
"Aim for the moon. Even if you miss it, you'll land among the stars!"
Also, working on one big main objective will always open numerous other opportunities. I think I have seen this happening in many personal relationships: e.g. I was so in love with a girl that I wanted to impress her by taking new performance arts classes. While nothing ever happened between me and my "main objective", more and more girls were attracted to me after my performances
The same has happened in careers as well. I learned the basics of web design in order to make my youth club more famous and official-looking, and by doing so I also learned a way to get quick money when my parents' friends or business partners needed a new website
A drawback of this is that sometimes the "moon"/main objective is really vital and important, but I have learned that when one opportunity is missed there is always another.

[FortunateOne]

"Never forget to always check your references."

[BusyNAbroad]

I am not sure I understood this. Do you mean something like "Always give credit to the people who helped you achieve something"?

[Purusha]

Really interesting question! I'll be interested to see what gems people come out with here.

One that my gran told me all the time when I was younger was that there's 'no such thing as boredom'. I grew to understand that this meant that saying that you're bored really means a lack of motivation and focus, and there are many times that when I've taken action and done something, whether enjoyable or workwise it's made me feel better.

Another one would be 'whatever you believe, you are right' - this echoes a lot of what you're saying about people's beliefs and attitudes creating a self fulfilling prophecy. This has definetely taught me to keep an open mind and not to have prejudices, as well as having a lot of tolerance for others who may have them because you begin to understand that it's a relection of their state of mind, current beliefs and attitudes about an issue, not a true reflection of who they are as a person. It also pays off because it allows yourself and others to change without a feeling of judgement from you, and this creates an openess in relationships that I feel would be unobtainable otherwise.

I can't think of any more at the mo, although there are probably loads - but these two are definetely ones that I value.

[StrangeMagic9]

I never get too "up" about anything and I never get too "down", either; I stay in the middle region where I am most comfortable. Because anything can happen and will happen when you least expect it. So I try to prepare for the worst, but pray/hope for the best.

There are many different ways to live and improve upon your life. Some find out through religion whereas others don't. But you can't go ramming your beliefs down another person's throat.

Finding true love and true work is a luxury that not many people get to experience before they die. Sometimes it's either or, sometimes it's none but very seldom is it both and if so very seldom will it last. Because finding your true work takes a tremendous amount of sacrifice, set-backs and hardships that many relationships cannot understand. It'll require much more to keep it afloat once you get there. As such, finding true love can take a tremendous amount of sacrifice, set-backs and hardships before finding 'the one.' Sometimes people just pick between the two and call it a day.

Quitting and quitting while you're ahead are two different things.

If it was that easy, everybody would be doing it.

There's plenty of money, food, love and resources in this country for everybody. The problem is greed, corruption and poor judgment. And guess what?? Government are not the only one's in on the scheme.



My name is Strange Magic because it's strange how the magic of life can turn about things in the drop of a dime. And for every dime you collect, you never take it with you when you leave.

[Captain Cool]

I try to live by the Ethic of Reciprocity AKA the Golden Rule ("do unto others as you would have them do unto you")...

[Cognitive_Canine]

I don't think my mother meant to give me this piece of advice when she said it, but it kind of always stuck with me.

One time during high school one of my really good friends broke up with her boyfriend. She then sort of became a....woman of the night (if you get my drift). She started dressing rather unfortunately and started trying to get male attention in the wrong way. She acted like she was "above" everything...from the shows we used to watch, to the music we listened to, to the books we read. She got really into silvia plath poetry and liked to remind us about how "today's youth didn't appreciate good literature". She'd start slipping into conversation how mature she was. In case we forgot.

When she finally got a new boyfriend....and his favourite things became her favourite things. She "discovered" all this music she liked. Even though I took her to one of those concerts months ago and she said she didn't care for it. But, now she was wearing around her boyfriend's band shirts and talking about how great they were. She even got the point where she would only drink a certain kind of soda....because it was the one he liked. She never said that...but we guessed as much.

I came home puzzled one day, asking my mother why she was acting like this. Why she became so attention wanting, skimpy dressing, and loud. She then told me something that I found quite humourous at the time, but later came to hold to my heart.

"Oh, sweetie. Only ugly girls do that" she said with a smile.

And....she was right. Only insecure people battling their own personal demons are mean. It led me to deduce that everyone who had ever done anything mean spirited or cruel...was simply doing that because they were themselves suffering. It made me pity them rather than hate them. And made me capable to forgive just about any one for anything. I've found it true time and time again.

It's helped me greatly and very little ever bothers me. It's made me a rather empathetic person and it's a great kind of person to be, in my opinion.

[Goldilocks]

Its not easy and I most often fail.. but;

I try to take 100% responsibility for my own life and not blame others for things I am unhappy about, I'm the one in charge of me after all.

A motto of mine is make the best of it, accept what is, & find the bright side.

Oh and try to be nice even when its hard. You never really regret being nice to someone the way you regret it when your not.

[LittleLion24]

"You cannot change what you do not acknowledge"

[perplunk]

Originally Posted by FortunateOne

"Never forget to always check your references."

I think the young people appreciate it when I get down verbally, don't you?