That’s a cross I’ll have to bare.
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
There is wisdom in old wisdom, and there can be deception, but the person being deceived is often yourself. Don’t be fooled by the ease of access and availability of old sayings. In a way, they are like invoking a spell, but the primary impact is on the caster (aka, the person speaking). They summarize a mental state that you are either in, or one you shift to with the incantation of the phrase.
Never judge a book by its cover.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
In a way, sayings are dismissive, they allow us to fall back on old thought patterns instead of establishing new ideas. In a way they are a crutch of how we used to think, or worse yet, how someone else taught us to think.
Life is what happens while you are preparing for it.
He has been skimming a little of the top for years.
Sayings become analogies in our minds. We know what they mean and how to apply them. But we may not understand the full impact or original meaning of the sayings. I’ve been making a lot of chicken broth soups recently. And in my last batch, I was scooping out ladles full of good wholesome broth, I noticed that all the fat was on the top. That is when I had an “aha” moment. Skimming off the top doesn’t just mean you’re stealing a bit. It means your taking from the richest part of the soup, where all the fat is. Skimming off the top means that you’re keeping the best out for yourself.
No good deed goes unpunished.
He is an indian giver.
What you could be doing, when reciting a catch phrase, is bringing to the surface a subconscious bias or even prejudice that you have accepted so thoroughly that you no longer think about what your saying. There are saying like ‘indian giver’ that fell into disdain because popular culture had identified it as racist and an incorrect stereotype. But if we rely upon popular culture to help us identify when we are out of balance, then we are severely out of balance, much like popular culture.
The next time your brain falls into autopilot, and you find yourself about to spit out ancient wisdom, stop, and consider:
Do I believe what I’m saying?
What does what I’m saying actually mean?
Where does this saying come from?
Context is powerful, knowing where your saying comes from can help you identify if you truly want to identify with what you’re really saying.
Awareness is powerful, and understanding what your saying before you say it can help you as a communicator.
Namaste,
Kevin
Bonus Material:
What Namaste means to me:
Putting Aside my ego, the Devine within me acknowledges the Devine within you.
When I was a child my parents had a series of metal trivets that they had mounted on the wall above the cabinets in our kitchen. I grew up reading these and to this day I can recite them and even visualize the image that was on each. For your consideration, I share some of my base programming.
“Good, Better, Best. Never let it rest. Till your Good, is your Better. And your Better is your Best” – (can’t remember the picture)
“Yard by Yard, life is hard. Inch by Inch, it’s a cinch.” – (Picture of an inch worm crawling)
“If your wife doesn’t treat you as you deserve, be grateful.” – (Picture of a man running with a frying pan chasing him, assumedly thrown by his angry wife)
“A house is made of brick and stone, but a home is made of love alone.” – (Picture of a brick house)
