BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings

Subject: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 02:47 PM

Knowledge that Maturity Brings
(A response to "The Devil Wears Prada")

1. People are more important than things.
2. Tedious work is more tedious if you decide it is.
3. Success comes from believing in yourself, not the other way around.
4. Someone's expressed opinion is not an accusation of you.
5. Win-win is possible.
6. Changing how you look will not change how you truly feel about yourself.
7. Having more will not make you happy.
8. Love is more important than sex.
9. Other people are not out to get you.
10. Judging others causes you to not believe in yourself.
11. You can say no.
12. Walking away from a fight is usually the best choice.
13. 90% of life consists of just showing up; if you don't show up you aren't living.
14. The world doesn't owe you anything.
15. Some relationships are not worth the effort.
16. Too much [alcohol, speed, food, fashion, etc.] is just too much.
17. Hurt feelings are a choice.
18. It is not wrong to refuse to play by someone else's rules.
19. It's not about blame.
20. More communication is better than less, but not always.
21. Good enough is good enough: perfection does not exist.
22. If you assume someone is on your side, they are much more likely to help you.
23. Sharing what you have will make your life better.
24. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness.
25. There is enough to go around.

Beth Parkes, July 2006

------

Beth Parkes is a square and contra dance caller from Massachusetts. She put this on her web site, here.

Plenty of wisdom in that knowledge, I'd say!

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 04:24 PM

Nice list, Becky!!

Add:

"The map really is not the territory. ANd sometimes, neither is the territory."


A

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 04:49 PM

Be the person you should be...not the one you think others want you to be.
Love everyone and they will all love you back....eventually.
Always finish what you started...but make sure it is right before you start.
What you give (good or bad)...in truth..you get back tenfold

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Becca72
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 05:53 PM

I misread this title as "knowlege maternity brings".. guess that still works.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 05:54 PM

That's more like inside information Becca.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 06:00 PM

I go to work
So, I can buy a car
To go to work.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Janie
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 08:20 PM

Wish I had listened to Dad when he....

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Sorcha
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 08:32 PM

This too, shall pass.
Don't sweat the small stuff. Most of it is small stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:42 AM

The greatest good for the greatest number is often not a number.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: astro
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 02:30 AM

When others fail, it reminds us when we have...then grace to them follows....


Astro...

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 03:19 AM

I'll let you know when I mature!

I do know that life is too short to always be working and too long to be always playing.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 07:37 AM

"Knowledge that Maturity Brings"

Those in positions of power and/or authority often have agendas which are very different from their job descriptions.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: PMB
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 07:50 AM

What I've learned is, it's a funny old game, is cricket.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:35 PM

The only small stuff worth sweating is, "Where did I lay my glasses down?"

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:43 PM

Sanctity isn't as exciting as it sounds.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Peace
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 02:18 PM

Ignorance is a state of mind located between 'I don't know' and 'I don't care'.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 02:34 PM

They are not laughter lines.
And the cheque wasn't in the post.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Midchuck
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 03:22 PM

It is amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired.

- "Lazarus Long" (Robert A. Heinlein)

And it's true, too.

Peter

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 03:55 PM

Trying to understand that which is inherently incomprehensible leads to frustration. Over and over.

To make sense of human life:

1. Find and consider the actual source.
2. Follow the money.
3. Cherchez la femme.
4. Find out what problem, real or imaginary, is being "solved".


A

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 06:49 PM

"A reputation for chastity is necessary to a woman. Chastity itself is also sometimes useful."

Author unknown

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 05:24 AM

Mony's a mickle maks a muckle.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 09:30 AM

If you had chicken pox in the past, get the shingles vaccine. Never mind the cost.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 09:37 AM

Truth is inherently simple.

This does not mean that any simple idea is true, however.



A

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 10:08 AM

It's not so much the knowledge that maturity brings as how we use it.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Bee
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 01:48 PM

I like Beth Parkes' list.

I'll add:

1. Old people are smarter and much more sophisticated than you imagine.
1.(a) Old people have indeed forgotten more than you already know.
2. Teenagers are not always up to no good whilst hanging about in sullen appearing groups.
2.(a)Teenagers know almost as much as they think they do.
3.Life really is too short.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: sian, west wales
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 02:45 PM

Never say 'never'.
Grow where you're planted.
If we are not ourselves, we shall be less than others. (That one is Mavor Moore's)

sian

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 02:52 PM

BRighten the corner where you are. If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, hop over for a smoke and then come back.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Art Thieme
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 06:28 PM

A banjo will get you through times of no money, but money won't get you through times of no banjo!---John Hartford

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 03:23 AM

Art, I think you got that one the wrong way round... I've managed for years with money and no banjo and been quite happy about it!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 04:12 AM

But with money you could have bought.....a banjo?

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Megan L
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 04:33 AM

Hmmm what has granny learned?

Weel yer never to auld tae hobble ootside early on a summer morning and wiggle yer toes in the dew covered grass.

Yer never to auld tae marvel at a dew coveredspiders web glittering with tiny diamons that sparkle in the sun.

Yer never to auld tae see the magic in the perfection of a snowflake or tae try and catch one on yer tongue.

Yer never to auld tae laugh wie joy at a babies gurgling smile.

Yer never to auld tae enjoy the company of friends

Yer never to auld tae laugh at the daftest thing

but mostly ive learned Yer never to auld tae love and be loved.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 12:31 PM

Love your list, Megan!

True friends are few and far and that's okay.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 06:43 PM

1. Every living thing on Earth has a purpose; think before you shoot or spray.

2. Over-tidiness is almost as detrimental to the health of ecosystems as agribusiness or pollution (why do we over-tidy our countryside and strew our cities with litter?).

3. Being sentimental about other living things (especially trees) doesn't help. Knowledge and understanding is much more important to the health of the world than fuzzy sentimentality.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 06:48 PM

Good intention is far surpassed by positive action!

That beauty from years ago....If you love something, let it fly free....if it comes back it's yours...if it doesn't it never was!

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 06:56 PM

Megan ...you are on drugs, or very young.

Grass, snowflakes...bah! humbug!

maturity teaches us not to piss about in the grass with no socks on. you will catch things.

snowflakes on the tongue is no substitute for oral sex.

when you are mature, one is completely unlovable.....everything else is a lie we tell ourselves to get through the night.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Janie
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 08:21 PM

I don't remember where I heard or read this one. Life isn't meant to be easy. It is meant to be life.

Self-pity is self-destructive.

Life is much more simple when I remember I am not the center of the known universe.

"Nobody ever died of oven crud."

"Who you are is none of my business." (Pia Melody, I think.)

Silver linings do exist. Sometimes we have to look for them. Sometimes we have to create them.

Planting seeds matters.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Janie
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 08:22 PM

Oops. Forgot to end the italics after the first line, above.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 08:51 PM

Gee, Wee Little, I think you are confusing maturity with loss.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Janie
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 09:35 PM

One hallmark of maturity may be accepting loss as integral to life.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 09:51 PM

"From here on up the hills don't get any higher...
but the valleys get deeper & deeper."


"Don't look back...somthin' may be gainin' on you."
         Satchel Paige

"Don't do too good of a job, folks will begin to expect it"
                Talkin' John, an old carpenter

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: bobad
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 10:00 PM

"All around a pig's ass is pork"

Said to me by a resident of an old folk's home every time I visited.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 11:14 PM

Bobad:

How did you interpret this bit of wisdom, in terms of application?


A

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Schantieman
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 08:45 AM

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Experience would have been most useful five minutes before you acquired it.

S

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 10:56 AM

There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL), and this is, actually, just as it should be.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: JennyO
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 11:00 AM

As I've got older, I've learned not to arrange my life so much to please other people at my own expense, or to be so concerned about how I look, or what other people think of me. I always ask myself now - What is it I really want to do? Of course, I still like doing things for people I care about, but I do them because I want to, not out of a sense of obligation. A friend of mine had a nice saying that has stayed with me:

"What other people think of me is none of my business."


Another thing that has slowly dawned on me is that all those clever "competent" business-like people out there that I used to be in awe of, aren't nearly as clever or competent as I thought they were. for a long time I used to wonder how other people kept things together so well while I was always struggling - or so it seemed to me.

More and more in the last few years particularly I've been noticing everybody else making elementary mistakes all over the place. They forget appointments, mis-spell large public signs, don't ring back, don't get around to doing what they said they would do, have messy houses, burn the dinner, and a thousand other little things. I now see that the cool and competent look is mostly just that - a look.

In fact, I found out to my amazement that a lot of people I know think of me as a particularly cool competent well-organized person! I think - if only they knew! The secret of course is that most of us go to great lengths to present the cool calm exterior to the world, while, like a swan, underneath we are paddling furiously. This really was a revelation to me, and made me feel a lot more relaxed about myself.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: GUEST,Beth Parkes
Date: 11 Nov 07 - 09:54 PM

Wow! What a wonderful discussion. I'm glad my musings helped a group of people share.

Beth

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 12 Nov 07 - 04:07 AM

I love Beth Parkes' list, it's fantastic...as are the added ones from everyone else

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 12 Nov 07 - 04:46 AM

Has to be something here which talks of the maturity that knowledge brings!

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 12 Nov 07 - 09:45 PM

"Aurthur Dent:It's at times like this, when I'm about to be thrown out of a Vogon spaceship into deep space above the smoking remains of the Earth, that I really wish that I had listened to what my mother told me when I was young!

Ford Prefect: Why? Waht did she tell you?

Aurthur: I don't know! I didn't listen!"

--Douglas Adams--


The discussion brought this little bit of dialogue to mind.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Rowan
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 12:49 AM

I think the first sign that I had matured a little occurred when I realised that it was better to accept my friends for who they were rather than for who I wanted them to be. Most of the understandings Becky and Megan mentioned came to me later, so I must have matured a little.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: JeZeBeL
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 03:48 AM

You're going to turn ino your mother (or father) no matter how much you try not to!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Mr Red
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 01:44 PM

Well maturity told me that:

"Knowledge knows when it knows, intelligence knows when it doesn't"

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: M.Ted
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 02:50 PM

Aphorisms are stupid.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 04:44 PM

The actual ebb and flow of changes in the world is MUCH less dramatic than the opinions poeple have about them.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 05:14 PM

No matter what you think you're not gonna live forever so enjoy it while you can -- and if there IS an afterlife, you might not enjoy it at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: autolycus
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 05:45 PM

I especially liked 9, 10, 19, 21 and 24 from Beth's interesting list.

At near-random, I'd add,

Maturity is what you do after you've tried everything else.


Do you take your own advice?


Intellectual knowledge is no guarantee of understanding and tolerance. (Alice Miller)

      Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 05:54 PM

Prepare for the afterlife as though it were your own.

T. Benjamin Green, 1908-1989

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: bobad
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 07:14 PM

Amos, I'm sorry if it looks like I ignored your query in your post of 09 Sep. 11:14 but I guess I lost track of the thread and only just saw it. In reply to your question, I kinda always wondered about it myself and what I come up with is something along the lines of not making a value judgment about someone by just looking at the bad parts and not seeing the good. This is a rural agricultural area and a lot of the local aphorisms reflect that.

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 07:21 PM

Beth, thanks for stopping by!

Subject: RE: BS: Knowledge that Maturity Brings
From: Amos
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 09:02 PM

Thanks, bobad. I couldn't -- so to speak -- make head nor tail of it!


A