You know how sometimes you see random quotes online and we feel like .. hmm .. A) It is exactly what we’re going through , B) It sounds like someone we know and it has happened before, C) You could relate to this or its D) Absolute bullshit.
So we’re here to give you some pointers on how to spot something that doesn’t make sense or maybe a really not sound piece of advice that you should stay away from, at all costs.
Let’s do this!
1.The Mopey Unrequited kind
Don’t get me wrong, at some point in my life as a young adult, I believed in that mopey broken hearted attitude, all emo and drunk with love. And I actually lived it and lived it proud that people always associated me with all these types of love quotes.
I had huge heart breaks after huge heart breaks and that unrequited love mode was switched on, 24/7. Which then attracted all the wrong kinds of people as well.
Remember, your vibration (energy) introduces you first before you actually introduce yourself. Now you’re letting the entire Universe feel your pain and despair, and some people thrive on that so they hone in on you and then you fall into this deep disgust of devoted love and keep falling and then you realise that it was really really toxic after all.
So if you keeping swallowing these beliefs as truths or “mantras”, you unknowingly invite the wrong types of vibrations that are logged into your frequency.
Stop.
Change the type of mantras you choose to script into your mind. Oh and yes I know, you artistic lot. Haha, I was in your shoes before. And we tend to use this vibration to tune into the dark side of ourselves and sometimes really excellent emotional work comes out from that narrative.
I do advice however, not to swim up that current flow for too long cos it will eventually consume you. And you’ll be drained.
Point:
“If it sounds like a pity party and the quote is influencing you to accept the emotional spiral and drown yourself into the deep end, then it’s not the right quote to believe in. “
2.The Horoscope Bias
Though I personally do not believe in horoscopes anymore, I did dwell in it before, not too long ago. I realised that every birth personality is dependant on not just the time or date or which part of the Moon’s mood you were born on. It also calls for your upbringing, the era you’re born into , your environment, other influences and more. All these make up your principles, your reality and it’s what grooms you.
To base everything on the stars and the moon only is not enough to conjure up a screwed up person or someone who is grounded and well groomed in their life belief systems. It takes a lot of factors and we shouldn’t crown a bias onto each star sign based on what the internet trolls and heartbroken people who got dumped by a certain sign, would say.
I can safely say that whatever signs that I have personally experienced does not totally embody whatever they say that they should embody. Like loyalty, trust, love, humour, friendship etc. I have been with too many Aries who are in fact, disloyal by proof of evidence. So the above quote of them being loyal doesn’t really state a reality about every single one of them. It’s the same for all signs by the way.
Oh ya and this quote right here about Capricorns, yeah.. not true. My husband is a Capri and he doesn’t drink coffee.
So though I wouldn’t say it’s total rubbish ( cos I don’t believe in star signs anymore but I did read tons of books on them once upon a time ) you just got to be careful about what you read about people based on their sign and based on what you know about them as an actual fact.
“When people show you who they are, believe them. “ as Dr Maya Angelou says. The rest of the fun stuff like love matches and all is also subjective but I guess it could be a rough guide for you if you’re really into it.
Point:
“If it sounds like as though two star signs are being vengeful and bickering or when you know for a fact that what you know about a person is true and not related to what the “horoscope” says about them, do not believe that quote for a second.”
3.The Life Gurus Gab
Oh yes, I have fallen for that trick. It’s ok if you want to share positive inspirational quotes even if you don’t really know the true origin of them as long as it looks and sounds positive. We all do that.
A print out on the wall, we capture it as our phone wallpaper, we share it in a group chat every morning and we add it on our vision board.
Recently (2020), I have learned that I’ve got to be more careful on these quotes that I post cos I may just be promoting someone who isn’t who they say they are.
And ok, maybe you’d say ” Hey chill ok, it’s just a quote.” and you’d be right actually. I should chill about it so I guess this is more of a personal preference. No one is able to stop you cos as long as it looks positive, why not.
Mark Twain is one of the most misquoted authors of our time. And one such quote that I found from him ( or the internet trolls who created it ), is
” The lack of money is the root of all evil.”
Mark Twain
Ok so, I can’t be absolutely sure it’s what he said and also what he truly meant by this ( I can’t possibly know everything right ) but this quote is from a man that actually went bankrupt. And I googled on Pinterest ” making money quotes” and it fell into that category which of course it doesn’t say for certain what it means but that’s what the algorithm relates it to.
So…..yeah…. ” A successful man in business.” Hmm.. I mean they weren’t wrong on that part but… well, you go read the but part. HAHA.
Next we have our peace maker, the Father of India himself, Mahatma Ghandi. Now, no disrespect for him cos number 1, he is not representative of my country and people neither am I out here trying to make a mockery of him or what he has done for India and the World peace movement, but this is what I found out about him, click here to know more. It really shocked the daylights out of me. He really did start with children if you know what I mean.
Another leader that has also been wrongly quoted, is Napoleon Bonaparte.
OK this is not a history lesson but to summarise, this man has done equally as much good and bad things. So…. I’m not sure if I’d like to quote him on anything. And it’s also based on your own personal beliefs if you feel that his good side diminishes his bad. In my perspective, it doesn’t. Here are some things about what people dispute about him and here is what he really thinks about women. Oh ya, don’t jump into conclusion about the quote about women below, he actually didn’t say that, it was yes…. misquoted. Here is the real excerpt and it wasn’t exactly from him.
It’s amazing that the people we might look up to (even the recent celebs or famous people that influences us ) may be someone who is kind of an imposter or even worst, have been misquoted and blamed for something that they did not say. They were paraphrased and their content and life’s work was misconstrued.
Point: “If you don’t know or doubt the quote or saying by such and such person, keep it to yourself or for your own group reading pleasure.”
4.The Ones that make you go Umm…
There are the fun ones, the sarcastic ones ( I love that a lot ) and then there’s the wasted my gigabytes type.
I am not sure about this one below cos maybe I’m too dull to understand the connection besides it being mid season and Santa’s got to work for end of year. Make me understand the funny part here. No no, I really wanna know. It’s been bugging me on how is this funny.
OK then there’s the simple but senseless type.
Which … sigh. I don’t even know how to. I mean. I guess it’s for fun, peace and laughter?
Like what do I do with it? Hmm..
Ok this one above is a No. I mean I know what you think the intention is trying to say but it doesn’t. Never speak lowly of yourself. You can be humble gracefully and yet respect yourself.
OK this one on the right is… sigh….. I know it’s meant to be witty and funny and “intelligent” some times… but yeah like I said, it’s a waste of giga space.
So take everything with a pinch, heck 3 pinches of salt when you want to choose something as your wallpaper, share online or using it as a mantra of some sort.
Not everything you read be it quotes or not, is absolutely true. So do some research if you’d like. No one will fault you if you do share some of the rubbish you see on the internet, there’s no “quote police” so to speak haha. I make those mistakes unknowingly too.
Point: “If the quote doesn’t make logical sense, it’s not funny or valuable or witty in any way. It sounds confusing or it’s something that you can not understand, don’t save it or share it.”
5.The Motivational Mango
So you see those old sayings perched atop the arch of a broken down motel, the quirky fridge magnets in an old restaurant diner’s kitchen and some quotes even made into t-shirts ? Well, it’s a little old school, back dated and too simple to be put into any motivational use.
Let’s thank Bobby McFerrin first for that beautiful and relaxing rendition. I don’t know what it is but that song really does makes me relaxed. Unfortunately, the words to not worry and just be happy is too simplistic a concept to digest. There are things that you do need to put some effort for and have worry but not the type of worry that makes you ill or uncomfortable and lose sleepless nights on. The term “Don’t worry be happy” is basically just asking you to reframe your state of mind. You do need to worry but not to a troublesome state and you can be happy but in relation with a “worry” (a happening that may cause anxiety or it becoming an issue) doesn’t really translate how you should behave or think while going through such a turmoil.
Another example is the above, where grades don’t matter. Did you know that due to the simplicity of this quote many have dropped out of school and some rebel against their parents and even their own friends.
So there is definitely a better quote than this, which is ” Grades don’t define your intelligence”. Ok that’s correct and that’s fine. But the above quote to just generalise it without going deeper has made some really young people who hasn’t the capacity or time to mature and understand it yet will choose to take it as how it sounds like. And this has led many kids astray. Do be careful of what you take literally as some points of view need to be further delved into and investigated. “An education is a must but excelling in academia doesn’t define your success in any way.”-Lin
Point: “If it’s too simplistic sounding and may cause confusion or misinterpretation then it’s not the right quote to stand by.”
There are many ways one can find motivation. There are many channels and avenues and platforms that we extract from and use as our motivational mantra. We share, we post and we live by it to the tee.
Just be careful which words will be your wisdom and which are actually waste.
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Love well, live abundantly.
-LM
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