What are the key-ideas you gathered from books, courses, mentors or life itself?

[Ameshairos]

From things you found online up to your favourite quotes or you explaining the topic to us:
What are all the helpful key-ideas that woke you up and slowly changed your life?

 

I'm talking about something like this:
https://www.42rulesforlife.com/42-rules-for-life/

Or this:
https://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/99498-a-guide-to-conquering-depression/ 

[Surfingthewave]

My personal favourite 

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann 1927

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

? 

[Alex]

@Ameshairos

Love conquers all.

Ideas are ultimately just for play.

Die before you die.

God speaks trough art and beauty.

Amor Fati. (Love your destiny)

Keep an sense of humour.

Lie as little as possible.

The greatest Truths can not be spoken.

Passion trumps Happynes

And the most importantly keep an open mind.

 

[undeather]

Jeffrey Epstein didnt kill himself.

[Bill W]

@Surfingthewave  That's nice thanks.

Nice topic. For me, having a dependency on alcohol and sleeping pills led me to Alcoholics Anonymous, and a general reboot on how to deal with my suffering. I became interested in things I'd never considered before such as spirituality, religion, and I had the realisation that I can't acquire and implement better ways of living unless previous ways were surrendered, let go, and jettisoned. 

Keys elements/quotes from AA

• Selfishness is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear and self-delusion.
• Self-righteousness and avoiding looking at your own shortcomings, the very thing we condemned in others, was our own evil.
• Nearly every serious emotional problem can be seen as a case of misdirected instinct. We impose our instincts on others. We step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. We must place spiritual growth before the satisfaction of instincts.
• If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its consequent unhealthy demand. Let us, with God’s help, continually surrender these hobbling liabilities. Then we can be set free to live.
• We must be sure to remember that we cannot buy our own peace of mind at the expense of another.
• Honesty with ourselves and others gets us sober, but it is tolerance that keeps us that way.

[Preety_India]

3 minutes ago, Bill W said:

@Surfingthewave  That's nice thanks.

Nice topic. For me, having a dependency on alcohol and sleeping pills led me to Alcoholics Anonymous, and a general reboot on how to deal with my suffering. I became interested in things I'd never considered before such as spirituality, religion, and I had the realisation that I can't acquire and implement better ways of living unless previous ways were surrendered, let go, and jettisoned. 

Keys elements/quotes from AA

• Selfishness is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear and self-delusion.
• Self-righteousness and avoiding looking at your own shortcomings, the very thing we condemned in others, was our own evil.
• Nearly every serious emotional problem can be seen as a case of misdirected instinct. We impose our instincts on others. We step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. We must place spiritual growth before the satisfaction of instincts.
• If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its consequent unhealthy demand. Let us, with God’s help, continually surrender these hobbling liabilities. Then we can be set free to live.
• We must be sure to remember that we cannot buy our own peace of mind at the expense of another.
• Honesty with ourselves and others gets us sober, but it is tolerance that keeps us that way.

Great list. 

 

[Bill W]

@Preety_India  thanks, works for me! When I try and stick to them!

[exhale]

From Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, to paraphrase:

1) Between stimulus and response there is a moment.  You can practice lengthening this moment, allow yourself to respond consciously and intentionally, and not reactively.

2) Even in the most desperate situations, one has the opportunity to respond with dignity.

 

[V-8]

"99.9% of the World's so-called wisdom, East and West, for the purposes of awakening, is about as useful as a glass of warm spit with a hair in it."  Jed McKenna

Note:  The are many, many levels of being "Woke,"  only one of which is actually being "Woke."

For example, someone raised in a Spiral Dynamics stage 4 household believes they are "Woke" when they get their first tattoo and enter SD 5.  

Actual Truth Realized people are a rarity. 

Clare Graves was quite correct in saying, "First-tier thinkers (first 6 substance levels of Spiral Dynamics) cannot recognize the Second-tier on their own, and react negatively if challenged; lashing out whenever it is threatened." 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2019 by V-8
added thought

[Pramit]

Too broad question, but since this is the actualized forum, I've selected this quote from alan watts: 

The biggest ego trip is the attempt to get rid of your ego. All methods are gimmicks for strengthening of your ego. So how do we not do that? And you are still asking for a method.