If my post title today irritates you or leads you to an understanding of yourself or others, let’s give the credit to Carl Jung.
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
… is displayed on the front of the packaging for the Carl Jung action figure in my office.
Whenever I share that quote with others, they seem to understand.
How do you understand that quote from Carl Jung, my understanding readers?
These days, several things are irritating me about others, which means I have an unprecedented opportunity to understand myself! I’m going to celebrate that by sharing some other recent photos (which may be an irritating habit of mine, which I hope you understand).
It’s not how old you are, it’s how you keep learning to understand yourself and others.
Here are 10 additional quotes from Carl Jung, which can lead to more understanding.
I hope you understand my gratitude for all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — for YOU.
P.S. After I published this post, I realized it was irritatingly similar to this one, from August 2017. I hope you understand!
Patriotism is when love for your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first. — Charles de Gaulle
This world of ours … must avoid being a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. — Dwight D. Eisenhower
It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve, and bad things are very easy to get. — Confucius
If you hate someone, it’s like a boomerang that misses its target and comes back and hits you in the head. The one who hates is the one who hurts. — Louis Zamperini
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. — Martin Luther King, Jr.
The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference — Elie Wiesel
You reclaim your power by loving what you were once taught to hate. — Bryant H. McGill
Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater. — George Washington Carver
I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that women were inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. — John Shelby Spong
Hate has no place in the House of God. — Desmond Tutu
I never learned hate at home, or shame. I had to go to school for that. — Dick Gregory
It is not anthrax or terrorism or AIDS that is the worst ill in our world: The most horrible disease in the world is hate. — Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain. — James A. Baldwin
I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them. — Baruch Spinoza
I don’t know what to write about hate, so I’ll share some photos from yesterday.
I don’t know what to write about hate, so here’s Cantor Azi Schwartz singing Jewish prayers to the fallen in 2015.
I don’t know what to write about hate, but I do know how to express gratitude to all who helped me write today’s post and — of course — to you.
Yesterday, I surrendered to a therapy group member’s suggestion that people express their thoughts and feelings about “surrender.”
What does surrender mean to you? What’s your personal experience of surrender? What would happen if you surrendered? What would change in your life?
Ann shall now surrender to her wish to quote others about “surrender.”
It took me a while to learn the true meaning of patience and surrender, but I have finally accepted that healing doesn’t happen on our schedule. It doesn’t have a clock or a calendar.
Let the winds of evidence blow you about as though you are a leaf, with no direction of your own. Beware lest you fight a rearguard retreat against the evidence, grudgingly conceding each foot of ground only when forced, feeling cheated. Surrender to the truth as quickly as you can.
Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment… Surrender to what is. Say ‘yes’ to life – and see how life starts suddenly to work for you rather than against you.
There are also many quotes about the negative side of surrender, including this one:
Not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender.
— Keith Ellison
Please vote for your favorite photo in today’s post, including these:
Soon I’ll be surrendering my shoulder to my physical therapist, Matt, who was devilishly happy on Wednesday when I added a chorus, just for him, to my original song “Triggers.” Here are some of the lyrics I’ll be surrendering up to an audience tonight at an Open Mic performance of “Triggers” in Arlington, Massachusetts:
There is a sacredness in tears. They are not a mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, of unspeakable love.
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity .. and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the [hu]man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
Even though “should”s and male ideas about the differences between men and women can put me on the verge of tears, that quote is still a great introduction to today’s music.
Are you on the verge of commenting?
I am on the verge of ending today’s post, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s blog and — of course! — to YOU.
“Et tu, Brute?” is a famous Shakespearean quote in Latin (fromJulius Caesar). Et tu, do you know what that quote means?
Et tu, Wikipedia! What do you say about “Et tu, Brute?”
Et tu, Brute? (pronounced [ɛt ˈtuː ˈbruːtɛ]) is a Latin phrase meaning “even you, Brutus?” It is notable for its occurrence in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, where it is spoken by the Roman dictator Julius Caesar to his friend Marcus Junius Brutus at the moment of Caesar’s assassination….The phrase is often used apart from the plays to signify an unexpected betrayal by a friend.
Et me, I’m going to point out that the literal translation of “Et tu, Brute?” is “And you, Brutus?” “Et” means “and” and “tu” means “you.”
Et tu, readers! Do you wonder why I’m explaining et ‘splaining about “Et tu, Brute?” today? Two reasons:
Et tu — if you’ve been a faithful et incredibly attentive reader of this blog — might remember that the first encounter with me et my boyfriend Michael (eight years ago in September) involved beets (described here ).
Et me, do I have any other photos to share with tu, here et now?
Et tu, do you notice that Michael et I always vote et that Michael never cooks with beets?
Et tu, YouTube: What do you have about “Et tu, Brute?”
Et tu! Are you going to comment on this post, below?
Thanks to Shakespeare et Michael et Julius Caesar et AGNI et the genie from Aladdin et Assassin’s Creed et Community et Community Theater et Irondale Center et Archer et beets et everyone et everything else that helped me write today’s post et — of course! — TU!
re·al
rē(ə)l
adjective
1.actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed.
“Julius Caesar was a real person”
synonyms: actual, nonfictional, factual, real-life
2. (of a substance or thing) not imitation or artificial; genuine.
“the earring was presumably real gold”
synonyms: genuine, authentic, bona fide
adverb NORTH AMERICAN informal
1. really; very.
“my head hurts real bad”
Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come. — Henri Nouween
Character is like a tree and reputation is like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. — Abraham Lincoln
The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office. — Dwight D. Eisenhower
It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. — Mahatma Gandhi
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance. — Confucius
Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit. — Hosea Ballou
There is no real beauty without some slight imperfection. — James Salter
The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. — Buddha
Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present. — Albert Camus
Real magic in relationships means an absence of judgment of others. — Wayne Dyer
Nothing ever becomes real til it is experienced. — John Keats
The world is like a reverse casino. In a casino, if you gamble long enough, you’re certainly going to lose. But in the real world, where the only thing you’re gambling is, say, your time or your embarrassment, then the more stuff you do, the more you give luck a chance to find you. — Scott Adams
The truth is, as most of us know, that global warming is real and that humans are major contributors, mainly because we wastefully burn fossil fuels. — David Suzuki
Monsters are real, and ghosts are real, too. They live inside of us, and sometimes, they win. — Stephen King
People like to say that the conflict is between good and evil. The real conflict is between truth and lies. — Don Miguel Ruiz
Well, real estate is always good, as far as I’m concerned. — Donald Trump
To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity. — Douglas Adams
Nothing is so strong as gentleness; nothing so gentle as real strength. — Saint Frances de Sales
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. — Marcel Proust
To keep it real, I try to have new eyes every day. Here’s what I saw with new eyes yesterday:
Illness is the doctor to whom we pay the most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promises only; pain we obey. — Marcel Proust
The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain. — Lord Byron
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain. — James Baldwin
Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier. — Barbara Kingsolver
All of us have ways in which we mask and cover our pain. — Iyania Vanzant
Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain. — Joseph Campbell
Pain and pleasure, like light and darkness, succeed each other. — Laurence Sterne
Pain is the most private experience, but its causes, whether natural or man-made, demand public accounting. — Nancy Gibbs
To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it! — Charlie Chaplin
If my art has nothing to do with people’s pain and sorrow, what is “art” for? — Ai Weiwei
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. — Bob Marley
Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends. — Tom Waits
Common Sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses. — Leonardo Da Vinci
I read, I study, I examine, I listen, I think, and out of all that I try to form an idea into which I put as much common sense as I can. — Marquis de Lafayette
Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Common sense is the most fairly distributed thing in the world, for each one thinks he is so well-endowed with it that even those who are hardest to satisfy in all other matters are not in the habit of desiring more of it than they already have. — René Descartes
Philosophy is common sense with big words. — James Madison
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18. — Albert Einstein
Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense. — Gertrude Stein
It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office. — H. L. Mencken
Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. — Clive James
Do you seen any common (or uncommon) sense in my photos from yesterday?
Was it common sense for me to invite people in a therapy group last night to express what makes them cry and what makes them laugh? I didn’t have the common sense to photograph more things on my list of what makes me laugh.
Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue. — Buddha
The true nature of all wealth is temporary; those who have wealth must here and now do good deeds that will live for a long time. — Thiruvalluvar
To be doing good deeds is man’s most glorious task. — Sophocles
Let each man think of himself as an act of God, his mind a thought, his life a breath of God; And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds, to show the most of heaven he hath in him. — Philip James Bailey
Time, which wears down and diminishes all things, augments and increases good deeds, because a good turn liberally offered to a reasonable man grows continually through noble thought and memory. — Francois Rabelais
It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, but only one bad one to lose it. — Benjamin Franklin
Neither soldiers nor money can defend a king but only friends won by good deeds, merit, and honesty. — Sallust
A man must be willing to die for justice. Death is an inescapable reality and men die daily, but good deeds live forever. — Jesse Jackson
All I ever seek from good deeds is a measure of respect. — Walter Annenberg
Some people feel good about helping others and they do so often. They do not realize that their good deeds have a second agenda. They want to be appreciated. — Gary Zukav
Big words seldom accompany good deeds. — Charlotte Whitton
Be prepared, and be careful not to do your good deeds when there’s no one watching you. — Tom Lehrer
Thinking good deeds is not enough, doing good deeds is not enough, seeing others follow your good examples is enough. — Doug Horton
Seeing others follow my good examples of good deed quotes would be good enough for me.
Do you see any good deeds in my photos from yesterday?
It’s a good deed to share music you love, including this good number from the musical Wicked.
Good thanks to everyone whose good deeds helped with my daily deed of blogging and to you — of course! — for all your good deeds, here and now.
