What is the best piece of advice ever given to you?

[White Noise]

I can't really think of any other than the "...pull your socks up..." and "...there is always room for improvement..." Dad comments.

Although, I do like - "...you can't take back what you've given away."

[Catch22]

Don't use online adult message board sites.

Stay away from hard drink and soft women.

[Lilith]

The golden rule still works for me.....Treat people as you'd like to be treated.

The other piece of advice I have always followed was about the saying....."if your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you jump too?"~ my mom

It's really easy to be the kind of person who jumps in on what a mob is participating in. Weak people do that, latch onto the current trend, join with others in attention seeking behaviors, ganging up on people, not thinking for themselves about whether an issue is truly worth the fight, needing to be "in" at all costs, the mindless herd mentality, picking on people who are different.

What takes guts is to stand up for things you honestly believe in. To not join a mob when they are participating in unacceptable behaviors. To be nice to people who are not "in" and maybe not as easy to like. To be your own person regardless of what the mob around you or society is doing.


I think her goal was to keep me from dressing like a tramp and doing drugs but having learned to take stands at a young age, has helped me in my struggles to stand up for myself and others.I was raised in an extremely racially segregated place and dealt with mobs and gang mentality in the form of the KKK at a very early age. And standing up for what I know to be right was not always easy but, I could not have lived with myself had I just joined in with the crowd and become like them.

[Summer]

There was some advice I was given not to long ago on how to deal with rude people. It is a "wish you well" idea.

Someone cuts you off whilst you are driving. You invision that they must be in a hurry because they have sick children at home who need them. So in my mind I wish them well.

Someone bumps into you in a store and forgets to say "excuse me". I invision that they have really sick children at home and they must get their items quickly to head home. So in my mind I wish them well.

Yes it sounds silly but it has worked for me. ;)


and the advice I was told a longtime ago from my mother was ...
"What goes around comes around!" She constantly told my brother and myself that.

[osuche]

A close friend...

You can do anything you put your mind to, but take a minute and think about what you SHOULD be doing with your life.

[PantyFanatic]

Among the many pearls offered was one of my German grandmothers that I just recently passed on.

“You have two eyes, ... two ears ... and one mouth.

Use proportionally.”

[BIBI]

I too was taught to treat others as you would want yourself to be treated. It is very good advice that was handed to me by my mother.......but in dealing with teens in my job and others that have passed through my life I have found that this does not work.....sometimes it is best to give them back what they dish out. To mirror their behaviours, so to speak. It has at times been very successful for me and my dealing with difficult people. Sometimes when you walk away from a problem with how your being treated and "turn the other cheek" the other person can feel empowered over you and continues their behaviour and then you have a real problem on your hands. :)

[Steph]

I'm with BIBI.

Listen, respect your elders but if someone is consistently ignorant, do them a favour and tell them so (especially if ignoring them for a long time doesn't work).

[IAKaraokeGirl]

I've recently learned to believe in something a good friend of mine has tried to convince me of for years...to take care of myself and my own needs, first; otherwise, I can't be successful as a partner, a mother or friend. He's always been a big believer that your own happiness (or lack thereof) directly reflects on your other relationships and life in general...and I've come to realize that in a big, big way.

[Oldfart]

Respect must be the root of all good relationships.

Self respect is the root of your ultimate relationship.

"There's only one person who was with you whan you were born,

as you grow up and face life, and when you die. Make that person

your best friend" My mother.

[nikki1979]

shut up n think before u open ur damn mouth , u dont have a backspace!

cant remember who told em that tho and u know i aint listened to it yet!

~nikki~

[cowgirltease]

My dad put it plain and simple.

"Do what is RIGHT."

and you know the difference between right and wrong.

[LixyChick]

I've thought about this for a long while......because my mother was a very wise woman (as was her mother) and she dished out a lot of advice! Most of it was funny, yet some of it I live by to this day....be it literal or metaphoric!

The one that contains both analogies of above is......

"If someone spits in your face.....break their jaw"!

She told us to do unto others.....look before we leap.....what goes around, comes around......wear clean underwear.....don't have sex till you're married (why buy the cow...yada, yada, yada).....if you don't know where it's been, don't put it in your mouth.....blood is thicker than water......feed a cold and starve a fever (or....maybe it's vice-versa...."sorry Mom, but I don't know anyone who gets that right).....etc. And most of that advice was just stated and therefore the rule, and so I guess she was mimicking her mother and her mother's mother. But she always had a story to go with the advice that was closest to her heart.

In the instance of spitting....she told me of a time when she was very young. She and a few of her friends were playing an outdoor game of some sort (I can't remember the game now....but I'm sure I got details when Mom explained it), when a boy came up to them and demanded to play. Now, this boy had been giving them grief for some time and my mother was afraid of him. She had told her mother about him and his behavior, and her mother told her that he was just trying to fit in and that my mother was to be nice to him (the do unto others thing). So, when this particular instance occured, my mother tried to explain that the game had already started and that he will get a turn in the next round.

No sooner did she say that, when the boy walked up to her and spit in her face and told her she was mean and that he should be able to play and that she didn't make the rules anymore.....he did! My mother ran home crying and told her mother what had happened. My grandmother asked her, "How did you feel when he spit in your face"? Mom said she felt like punching him but remembered her mother's advice to do unto others (yada, yada, yada) and just ran home instead. My grandmother shocked my mother by saying, "Being nice to others is one thing, but when they spit in your face....you break their jaw.....you don't run away"!

Well.....it seemed to me that my mother tried to follow her mother's advice to the tee.....but I sure wish grandmom had of given her that advice BEFORE Mom got spit on......Ewwwwww!

P.S. My grandmother was a strong spoken Scot with a heart of gold........and a fist of iron!

[lakritze]

Go West Young Man.Kind of hard to do.Had I have been born 5 miles further west than I was,I would be a fish.heh heh

[skipthisone]

"you are like a fart in a skillet, everyone knows you are in there, but no one can get their hands on you"... or "never shoot yourself in the ass of a rabbit"

Lots of advice like that from my grandpa...just never understood any of it.

[LixyChick]

LOL@skip! I love your grandpa!

[Teddy Bear]

Growing up I got all the usual ones that have already been mentioned: Do unto others, If everybody else jumped off a bridge..., clean underwear, eat your veggies, etc, etc.

But when I was pregnant with my first baby, Fairy-Bird, I was given this advice by a mother of 4 teenagers and it was the best baby/child rearing advice I ever got. I give her credit for the close, open relationship I have with both my daughters. She said: Talk WITH your children, not at them, listen to everything they say and be involved in thier lives, know what they like and no matter what stupid thing they say or do, love them always, unconditionally and with all your heart.

[2-4-tea]

I did nt listen to this advice I should have it was basic I was told to run on my wedding day I have since been the best man in 4 weddings all with the same advice to my grooms I give the same advice and you know what they did nt neither however all have come up to me and told me they should have listened

[Aqua]

Lixy, I was given similar advice on dealing with a bully. My cousin told me to stand my ground instead of running, and hit the guy in the face as hard as I could, then he'll be stunned and I can wallop him. It worked. I am not a violent person, but hey, a kid can only suffer at the hands of an older brother for so long.

[White Noise]

Yeah, I'm not too religious but the 'do onto others as they do onto you' has always held firm with me.

Guess I better credit that one to God.

[Nice Guy]

Ok this was one of the essay questions on my teacher certification test. Talk about an annoying question, especially in as an essay.

[Mae]

Be yourself.

[south]

"In order to create we must destroy"

[osuche]

Be flexible and ready for all contingencies
--my boyscout troop (yes, I was an Explorer!)

[Irish]

This will sound stupid to many!I have alot of them but my father,
told me,when I started racing motorcycles.No matter,how good you get,never think that you're the Boss! Always,respect your
motorcycle!When you think that you're the boss,it will either kill
you or hurt you real bad! When you think about it,most accidents,
are caused,by not paying attention,because you're so familiar,
with doing the same thing,over & over! Irish
P.S. It may sound Macho,but when it's you're turn,it's you're turn!
I've seen people killed at 25MPH, & I have gone off at over 100MPH!It just wasn't my turn!

[Loulabelle]

My Mum:

"You can't get pregnant from swallowing" and "Never get sperm in your eye"

What a wonderful woman!