My Life Mottos

My Life Mottos

This week I thought I’d share my life mottos. I didn’t really set out to devise life mottos, but over the years and across the board these beliefs that have stood the test of time. They are my guiding principles that I will sometimes even repeat aloud to myself. Feel free to agree wholeheartedly or not. Let me know in the comments. I’m always interested.

Always Advance

Even if it’s just getting a smidgen done, or a crumb of a smidgen done, it counts. Every little bit counts. But Rosemary, what if I’m sick, burnt out, depressed, bedridden with an injury? Even if you’re crawling through the worst shit of your life, even if tragedy has struck, keep moving forward. In the worst of times, that can mean just hanging on through the next hour, sometimes just the next minute. But the point is to avoid stagnation, be able to see yourself in the future. That can mean simply getting out of bed. You are going somewhere, even if that’s just making it to tomorrow. You’ll be ahead of yesterday.

Side note: As I was writing this over the last few days, a friend sent me an article on logotherapy, devised by the late Dr. Victor Frankl, psychiatrist. He put forth that people whose lives have meaning, and consequently can see themselves in the future, fare better. It ties in nicely with this first motto. And yes, these weird coincidences always seem to be happening to me.

You Can’t Move to the Future Living in the Past

This comes from Dr. Joe Dispenza’s book (he’s also on YouTube) Becoming Supernatural. You cannot move to the future you want if you keep expecting everything to be as it has been. When you expect different, you get different. If you expect the same, then you’ll still be living the same life.

Make Love Not War

Seriously, be kind to others. Or at least tolerant. It’s not worth it to get annoyed, much less enraged. I try to practice patience, I try to let it go. I’m not perfect, but I remind myself it’s not worth the energy.

Another meaning of this motto refers to my intolerance of prejudice.  Judging people based on race, color, sexual orientation, socio-economic level, education, or any other attribute is inexcusable. Reinforcing stereotypes or myths, treating them differently, based on these assumptions is wrong. Is a person kind? Are they not harming others? Are they loving rather than hurtful? That’s the only measure. Everything else is details. Be a lover, not a fighter.

Drop the Useless Baggage and Move Forward

Along the same lines as living in the past, don’t carry useless baggage. Remorse, regret, grudges, revenge fantasies, bad relationships, bad childhoods, mistakes, the list goes on. Learn from your past and move forward. Bring only your wisdom with you.

Preach by Example

Nietzsche said that for a philosopher to be respected he had to preach by example. Even if you’re not a philosopher, not practicing what you preach will discredit you in a second. In French we say the boots have to follow the lips (it’s catchier in French). It translates as ‘You gotta walk the talk’. If you want to have integrity, don’t tell, show.

Respect the Person You Were

Along with shedding the useless baggage, respect the person you were in the past. You did your best with what you knew, the experience you had, the facts available at that time. Hindsight is always 20/20. You can always see where you went wrong. But at the time you did your very best with what you had. High five yourself. Respect.

I’d love to hear what mottos, truths you live by. Please leave them in the comments. My best to you all of you.

Photo by Cliff Johnson on Unsplash

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