I’ve mentioned that I see my blog as a “museum of thought.” Today’s exhibit is a sampling of a collection which I have been curating in one of my many journals and notebooks. I strongly encourage you to curate your own thought collections. They are inexpensive to amass, easy to keep, and yet, they quickly become invaluable to you – easily among your most prized possessions. Your thought museums give you more of an inroads to yourself. They help you to see what truly resonates with the truest part of your own self.
What would you call your own thought museum? The Musings Menagerie? The Socratic Salon? The Gallery of Inward Gospel? The Phantasmagoria of Philosophy? (Hint: you can have more than one thought museum. All it takes is a pen, a journal, an open mind, and the insatiable desire to read, and to learn, and to understand, and the desire and ability to be awestruck with delight.) Here is today’s exhibit from my Meditation Musèe ( a beautiful, well-worn, pink and gold, leather-bound journal, with the international symbol for hospitality, the pineapple, embossed all over it. At this point in time, this particular thought museum is about half full. What I love about my thought museums is that mask wearing is not required to enjoy perusing them.) A sampling:
“Your failures are nothing more than research and development.” – Dean Graziosi
“I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in concrete. It’s so fuckin’ heroic.” – George Carlin
“A standard is a yes. A boundary is a no.” – Thomas Leonard
(Edit: One of my dear and loyal readers, Kelly, asked me for further explanation on this quote. I answered her in the Comments section, but I decided to put my interpretation here, as well: When you set standards for yourself, you are saying this is what I want, and what I expect out of a relationship or a job or an experience. You are saying “yes” to what you want from something in your life. A standard describes what IS acceptable to you. A boundary says “no”. It says these are lines that you cannot cross with me in any situation. Remember both standards and boundaries are for YOU, and for your life. Others don’t have to share the same standards and boundaries as you have set for yourself, but if they don’t fit into your standards, nor do they respect your boundaries, they (person, job, experience, etc.) probably aren’t a good fit for space in your life.)
“Participate in the night leaving, participate in the evening coming, participate in the stars, and participate in the clouds; make participation your lifestyle and the whole of existence becomes such a joy, such an ecstasy. You could not have dreamed of a better universe.” – Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
“You come any closer, I’ll turn you into poetry.” – Umi, Twitter
“Do not confuse character with ego. Character is like an iceberg. It’s massive, solid and unmovable. The Titanic will sink before an iceberg even notices its been hit. Most of the iceberg mass (around 90%) is under the waterline. Those with big character do not usually need to show off. The 10% that people see is impressive enough. When critics shoot arrows into character, very little happens. It’s possible the arrow could chip the ice, but more than likely it bounces off and falls into the water.
Ego, on the other hand, is inflatable. It’s made by the hot air of its owner’s breath. It’s pumped up with talk and can be brought down with the slightest pinhole of truth. When critics shoot arrows into the ego, the ego-owner huffs and puffs to compensate. The ego looks everywhere for more hot air attachments – any blower will do.” – Holiday Mathis
I hope that this sampling has inspired you to start and/or to continue with your own collections. Remember to only keep in your galleries, what completely resonates with you. Thereby, your museum collection will be as incredibly interesting and unique as you are – truly a one-of-a-kind spot on Earth!! You will notice your own evolution as you look back at all that you have collected, throughout your experiences and times in your life. You may certainly have any of the above samplings for your own thought museum. In this world of thought/ideas/philosophies/musings, as long as credit is given to the proper creator, exhibits on loan are highly encouraged!! Like love, the more often thought creations are shared, the more their resonance multiplies!!
Are you passing on love, or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
This one stumps me:
“A standard is a yes. A boundary is a no.” – Thomas Leonard
When you set standards for yourself, you are saying this is what I want, and what I expect out of a relationship or a job or an experience. You are saying “yes” to what you want from something in your life. A standard describes what IS acceptable to you. A boundary says “no”. It says these are lines that you cannot cross with me in any situation. Remember both standards and boundaries are for YOU, and for your life. Others don’t have to share the same standards and boundaries, but if they don’t fit into your standards nor respect your boundaries, they (person, job, experience, etc.) probably aren’t a good fit for space in your life.
Thank you! For some reason, the word “standard” just didn’t connect for me.
How interesting that I’ve never thought of standards and boundaries as either positive or negative. But in this context, they are. A standard is positive – things that you are willing to accept and that you expect to happen. A boundary is negative – things that you will not allow, and pray that those lines won’t be crossed. There is a lot of food for thought here.
I’ve just realized that up until the last few years, I’ve lived my life according to standards. I’ve not been good at setting boundaries because I never had to do that. My parents set standards, I followed them. I see that as a positive – I aspired to meet the standard. I followed the same principle with my husband. But I’ve just realized that he was raised with boundaries, not standards. He always says that I expect too much; I set the bar too high. I’ve just come to understand that’s because his parents told their kids what they could NOT do, not what they could do! They set boundaries, not standards. Whoa, there is so much to think about here!
That’s all good food for thought! I think when we make sure that we work on our own self worth/self care, it is easier to set high standards and to keep good boundaries. Boundaries are not negative, Kelly. They are positive and necessary, but they are not about controlling other people. Boundaries are for you, not them. So, if you have a boundary that you will not allow yourself to be yelled at, you take action to leave the room or to remove yourself from that conversation, quietly and firmly, because your boundary has been crossed. You can’t make the person stop yelling, but you can leave the situation.