what's the best advice you ever got

[minerva]

Sometimes you’re in a situation, where you feel something is wrong, but you simply can’t grab it. After thinking in circles for a while you talk to a friend about it and one single sentence they say makes you see things clearly all of a sudden.

It happened to me years ago – I had a friend who turned out be a real asshole. I knew she was great in manipulating people but as stupid as it sounds to myself today, I wasn’t able to figure out, she was doing the same thing to me.
I wondered about things going wrong all the time, relationships breaking up, people being mad at me for no obvious reason, but didn’t realize that her intrigues were the reason, since she always gave me perfect explanations for everything that happened and always offered ‘help’.
To make a long story short, after one more incident, I talked to my best friend about it and he simply looked at me saying –

‘Don’t pay attention to what she is saying, pay attention to what she is DOING’.

And this single sentence did it. It totally opened my eyes. Funny, huh?
Today I really wonder about myself, but that’s just how it was.
I always kept this advice in the back of my head from that day onwards and it helped me a lot.

For some reason I thought about this again today and it made me wonder if anyone else experienced something similar.

What’s the best single piece of advice you ever got?

 

[Bizkit]

I would have to say that the best advice I ever got was from a co-worker(who became one of my best friends)when he told me to get out of the business that we were in.This was when I just started and he had been doing it for a while.Needless to say I didint listen and 6 years later I am completely,no let me repeat that,COMPLETELY miserable. I wish I would have taken his advice.That could perhaps be the best advice I ever got,I was just to blind to see.

 

[jaba]

doesn't taste the same.....

Jaba's head advises him all the time to stop kissing the computer monitor so hard when he sees Minerva's feety siggy pic on the screen....

One day jaba's gonna chip a tooth! 😛

 

[Illtcklu]

My dad once said to this to me, and I don't recall the situation as well as the advice, which is as follows:

"If someone has to spend time TELLING me how good a person they are or how many great things they've done, makes me wonder how truly good or great that person really is?!"

 

[cloudgazer2k]

Deeds, not words.

Duty before self.

and my personal favorite, from my father: no fight is ever fair. the other guy will do anything to beat you down, so do the same to him. and if you lose, i'll kick your ass.

 

[Laugh]

"It's not as important in knowing the answer to something, as it is in knowing where to find the answer."

 

[Horatio]

"Nothing's ever easy"

 

[Leo tickles]

Be yourself. The advice I gave myself years ago.

 

[Oblesklk]

On my wedding day, just before the ceremony, I was understandably nervous. Family and friends present, buildup for the moment, etc. As I was getting ready to take my place at the front, the pastor noticed my condition, smiled, and just said "the reason we get nervous is because we know something special is going to happen."

It really struck a chord for whatever reason and I immediately relaxed, after perceiving everything differently.

 

[ChosenofMystra]

Not actually given to me, but good advice I could take from "The Simpsons" 😀


Chris, you're as stupid as a mule and twice as ugly. If a strange man offers you a ride I say take it!

 

[Soulfly]

Submit to God

 

[asutickler]

"Don't shit where you eat."

 

[b0xr]

Dry yourself off inside the tub so you don't get the entire bathroom wet 😀

 

[cloudgazer2k]

"Don't shit where you eat."

does that quote count when you're eating Chinese or Thai?

 

[minerva]

On my wedding day, just before the ceremony, I was understandably nervous. Family and friends present, buildup for the moment, etc. As I was getting ready to take my place at the front, the pastor noticed my condition, smiled, and just said "the reason we get nervous is because we know something special is going to happen."

It really struck a chord for whatever reason and I immediately relaxed, after perceiving everything differently.

Yeah, that's exactly the kind of story I was looking for. A single line that just strikes a chord for whatever reason.
Thanks for that nice example, Oblesklk and I hope everything is still as special as it was on that first day of your wedding 🙂

 

[minerva]

Jaba's head advises him all the time to stop kissing the computer monitor so hard when he sees Minerva's feety siggy pic on the screen....

One day jaba's gonna chip a tooth! 😛

Haha 😛

Minerva has some advice for silly Jaba.
'Most feet prefer gentle kissing anyway' 😀

 

[paracarl44]

How does one follow the Post Above. ^^^^

I was thinking about some serious advice, but looking at Minerva's soles and Jaba's comments has thrown me offtrack.😀

 

[minerva]

lol, ok now, enough 😛 - no more distractions in this thread, lol
this is a serious thread about advices and the stories behind them.
I really liked Oblesklk's example and I would love to hear a couple more 🙂

 

[Scouse]

When I was about 14, I was mates with a guy a couple of years older than me. The advice was simple - "You can never know too many people".

Chances and opportunities can pop up from the unlikeliest sources. Whether its a spare cigarette, a place to stay or even just a person to talk to. Being civil to people isn't a hard thing to do.

 

[paracarl44]

Getting Serious.

When some people do things and never get in trouble, I remember the old saying: "Give a man enough rope and he will hang himself". I can only hope that this saying applies to OJ Simpson.

 

[BigJim]

What’s the best single piece of advice you ever got?

You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is 'never try'.

 

[brianspencer66]

I grew up in a rough area and my dad once told me "tough guys dont live a long life'". After that I met my friend Willie and we just thought more about music and let the idiots fight among themselves. but those still are cute tootsies Minerva. Are you from anywhere around here by the way?😱

 

[Capnmad]

Sometimes you’re in a situation, where you feel something is wrong, but you simply can’t grab it. After thinking in circles for a while you talk to a friend about it and one single sentence they say makes you see things clearly all of a sudden.

It happened to me years ago – I had a friend who turned out be a real asshole. I knew she was great in manipulating people but as stupid as it sounds to myself today, I wasn’t able to figure out, she was doing the same thing to me.
I wondered about things going wrong all the time, relationships breaking up, people being mad at me for no obvious reason, but didn’t realize that her intrigues were the reason, since she always gave me perfect explanations for everything that happened and always offered ‘help’.
To make a long story short, after one more incident, I talked to my best friend about it and he simply looked at me saying –

‘Don’t pay attention to what she is saying, pay attention to what she is DOING’.

And this single sentence did it. It totally opened my eyes. Funny, huh?

I hear ya, babe. Been there, done that. Manipulators are the worst and anyone can fall prey. They can kill trust, wreak havoc in friendships, destroy reputations, take people's money, intimidate, harass, and the skilled ones can do so practically with impunity because when push comes to shove, they know the people most important to appeal to and easiest to win over, so that they suffer the least consequence (if any at all) while leaving everyone else with a mess. And they do. And often, it's not the explanations they give you, but the things they don't explain and don't mention in order to mislead that's the problem.

It's hard calling such people "liars" because it's not the commissions but the omissions that do the damage. But they are horribly deceptive and destructive nonetheless.

I was once told, "Trouble follows trouble". It didn't hit me like a load of bricks, but it encouraged me to think...

If they constantly have "psychos" coming out of the woodwork, other people "picking on them" all the time, claim to never do anything to provoke them, and seek sympathy and protection, there comes a point at which you have to stop and consider, "Is everyone really always that horrible to this one person? Are they really the only sane person in an insane world, or could it be that their behavior is the problem?"

When I started seriously asking myself those questions -- that was the point at which I just began viewing my manipulator (still believed to be a friend at the time) with a bit of skepticism and caution.

Those questions are key to recognizing the problem. But I sympathize. I've been manipulated and seen others manipulated in similar ways by the same person, sometimes at great costs to friendships, and sometimes with other costs.

The other piece of advice that I've been given wasn't said to me explicitly, but is the product of boiling down the moral lessons of my raising:

"Honor above all things."

If you act with honor at all times, using honesty, frankness, compassion, decency, respect, calm and reasoned contemplation of matters, and always do your best, you may not win everyone over, but you can at least sleep with yourself at night. It's what I need to do to live with myself, and I'm happy to say, I still live with myself quite well, and cannot remember a time when I couldn't say that.

 

[maniactickler]

Dont stare directly into the sun.

 

[Horatio]

"What Would Brian Boitano Do?"