Diane’s dogma

If we truly want the best,

We must bring our best…

If we truly want to be loved,

We must love ourselves first.

This MY BC! Let’s keep it this way…starting with home.

I read the same fairy tales as everyone else,

but contrary to most I saw the women as heroes, too.

Good advice brings positive results

I never ask people for advice about solutions to problems in my life, because I know it better than anyone else and I always find the answers through meditation and hunches. I do however fall back on some of the most profound sayings ever written every once in a while to help keep me focused.

I believe advice should support, inspire and influence on a positive level when a person is trying to make the right decision about their life, rather than warn of impending doom, gloom and disaster.

“Actions speak louder than words” is one of the clearest and most helpful pieces of advice that I like to share.

Another one that helped me when I was going through a lot of guilt during my divorce is “Marriage was made for people…people were not made for marriage”.

One that my son told me teaches a lot about how to live life in “Reality is a crutch for people who can’t handle drugs.”

And then there’s the timeless Goethe with “”Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness had genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”

Of course one should never forget, “Thoughts are things, think the good ones” and “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Advice that should never have been:

“Damned if you do and damned if you don’t”

 “Nice guys finish last”

 “No pain…no gain”

 “Only the good die young”

and my all time least favourite

“Want in one hand, shit in the other, and see which fills up the fastest.”

These are really heavy, hard to unlearn and basically tell you to put up and shut up, because there ain’t nothin’ you can do about it. I speculate that whoever thought them up was probably miserable and didn’t want others to be happy if they couldn’t.

To counteract some of the negative advice I received growing up I created some of my own words to live by. When I’m up against it I just recall one or more of them and the answers to my problems come quite quickly.

I think it’s because positive thoughts open your mind to the divine where solutions are kept – that’s my theory.

When I need my own good advice I choose to remember thoughts like:

“It’s not so much what you need to learn to make a good life…it’s more what you need to unlearn”

“Never be a prisoner of some else’s bad decisions”

”You can never believe in nothing, because you can always believe in yourself.”

One thing I always made sure of when my son left the house was to say, “Have fun” rather than “Be careful” and I still say it whenever anyone leaves my house or I leave theirs.