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Filed Under life list on June 23, 2010

Pumbaa: It’s our motto.
Young Simba: What’s a motto?
Timon: Nothing. What’s a motto with you?

* * * * *

For his birthday this year, Henry got a Nintendo DSI. He paid for it with money he earned and saved and was gifted by various friends and kindhearted relatives. It’s his first really big purchase, and he’s very proud of it.

Also, apparently, it’s totally cool, so there’s that.

On the home screen, when he logs in, there is a space for his name and a personal saying. “Want to see what mine says?” he asked the other day. Sure, I said. Under his name, he had written I can do it.

* * * * *

The other night Wade and I were watching the last stage of the Tour de Suisse; at the very end, there was a pitch for the Road ID. “You need one of those,” I told him. “I know,” he said, “I really do.”

The Road ID is a simple bracelet that you wear running or cycling; it has contact and emergency information engraved on it, in case you’re hit by a car or collapse or are felled in some equally horrible way. “I’m ordering two,” I told Wade, “one for you and one for me.”

“I want a pink one,” he joked.

The id can be personalized with up to six lines of text; the sample on the web site includes a personal motto (in this case, NEVER GIVE UP!). I’m thinking Wade’s should say SAVE MY BIKE! because that’s probably what he’d be worried about in an emergency.

* * * * *

Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I bought a silver bangle bracelet at Banana Republic. It was engraved, in a beautiful script, Often one finds destiny where one hides to avoid it. I liked the size and the weight of it, but I didn’t pay too much attention to the words.

I still wear that bracelet, stacked over two others: a silver locket engraved with a W and a strand of pearls I bought after Henry was born. I like the way the bangle looks with the other bracelets, the ones that remind me of my family, and how it plinks against the desk or the edge of my laptop when I’m working.

* * * * *

Charlie and I were in the bookstore recently; next to the Godiva chocolates was a display of coffee mugs with be the change you want to see in the world written on the side. “What does that say?” Charlie asked.

“You can read it,” I told him. So he did.

“What does it mean?” he said. And we talked about what Ghandi meant. I think he got it. I hope I did.

Your turn: do you have a motto? Let’s hear it, and hear why it inspires you.

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It’s less a motto and more something I aspire to, but “from those to whom much has been given, much shall be required” always puts things in perspective for me.

I love this post. I have a whole series of phrases I try to live by: Never rest until your good is better and your better best; That which does not kill us makes us stronger; You can’t always get what you want…get what you need; and lately-You don’t have to be the Queen to wear the crown.

Maybe I should add- Fashion and Football are fun!?!

Growing up my dad always said “Do what you said you were going to do.” So simple, yet so many people do not. I like to think of myself as a person who does what they say they are going to do.

First, I love Henry. What a great motto for him to choose! Smart kid.

Second, I totally need a Road ID, too. I think mine would have to say “Smile because you CAN.” That really helps me when I’m struggling on a hard run.

Great great post Susan. I think the motto for my husband and I is a line from a DMB song. It was our first dance. It is engraved on the snare drum I gave him as a wedding present and the words are the backdrop for print (http://tiny.cc/sfynh) I gave him on our annv.
“with each moment, the more I love you”. It reminds us to keep moving forward and growing together.

Ever since I read the book, the very last line of Carl Sagan’s “Contact” has spoken to me: “For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

And there is a phrase in Latin, “Ad astra, per aspera” To the stars through adversity.

We have a mirror that we had custom made and at the top it says, “Life is an Adventure Partake”

I have too many to count, literally all around me at my desk. Some favorites that jump out:

“Whatever you can do, or dream
you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Begin it now.” W.H. Murray

“Finish each day and be done with it” Emerson

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been” George Elliott

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“If you are irritated by every rub, how will you get polished?”
Rumi

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

And perhaps too long to be a motto, but I love them still:

“I beg you… to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves… don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything, live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live you way into the answer.”
Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

“To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and
wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages,
with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk
gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual,
unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common – this is my
symphony.”
William Henry Channing

C’est la vie!

(I wear a ring that K gave me that says: And you, a windrose, a compass, my direction, my description of the world. Because that’s what K says about me - and what I say about him.)

i don’t know if it’s a motto but we do say ‘it’s just easier to be nice.’

My motto is “It’s amazing what you can do if you don’t know that you can’t do it.” It’s gotten me through everything life has thrown at me (so far)….

When I run, it is “progress is progress” because it has been slow. Also, f@ck diabetes, because really that is what this all boils down to. Losing weight and getting in shape to turn the tide on becoming a type 2 diabetic.

In life in general it is a lot of what Gandhi said. You can’t expect from others what you don’t expect from yourself.

Love this post!

Do or do not. There is no try. (Yoda)

and

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? (Robert Schuller)

“It’s not how many times you fall down. It’s how many times you get up.”

And

“We will make it through this year if it kills us.”

I have a motto with a twist. It’s a mantra, which means it is am intention I wish to embody. It’s an exercise from th energy medicine book I am writing. I say it whenever i have empty space (loading dishwasher, taking shower) or when I need to calm down (read: parenting). Just pick an attribute and add I am to it. Mine is “I am still” and it really has changed my life. Just ask my kids. I am more present and can calm down faster…

Be the change you want to see in the world and I am the master of my fate. If I can remember those things, it makes an enormous difference in my life.

“Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.”
Watching this circus of mine grow up in a fast forward motion, I am reminded of this motto every day.

“Live Life To The Fullest!” At 15 I found out I had thyroid cancer and beat it, but I learned life happens and enjoy what you have. Now as a mom I try to enjoy the kids and not get too busy in the life that surround it.

Why no, I don’t have a motto, but now I am thinking I should adopt “Keep calm and carry on” as my mothering motto–you know, that great British wartime admonition to the public in the event of bombing or power outages or other war-related terrors? Seeing as for the past two mornings in a row my day has begun with simultaneous tantrums from my two young daughters, while I strive to get us all ready for preschool summer-school and kiddie soccer.

Thank you so much for posting information about the RoadId. I’m a runner and run early in the am. I just ordered one for myself. As for mottos, mine is one that I try to apply to every aspect of my life: the 7 Ps -
Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

What gets me through the day:

“No matter how chaotic it is, wildflowers will still spring up in the middle of nowhere.” -Sheryl Crow

I danced in high school and had to perform a solo at some point in front of my entire dance team. I was a ball of nerves, scared to death I’d screw up. A friend pulled me aside and said, “Just dance. Screw everything else.”

It’s become a motto of sorts. Whenever I have something I have to do, I say this to myself. It’s not about dancing anymore, obviously, but about keeping the noise at bay. Doing what you have to do, everything else that may try to prevent you from doing it be damned.

In the immortal words of Dory from Finding Nemo: “Just keep swimming.”

But I really, REALLY like the one someone put above: “If you are irritated by every rub, how will you get polished?” So true.

I got my husband a road ID for Christmas. I don’t think he has ever worn it while running. However, should something happen to him and someone happens to search our coat closet, they will find all the necessary information on the road ID on the top shelf in there. Sigh.

One of my dad’s favourite lines (he had a million pithy little sayings that were often off-colour) was ” If all else fails, PANIC” - this is pretty much my life motto

i love this post!

my favorite is very simple from ralph waldo emerson: scatter joy.

so simple and yet it’s great to want to bring joy, be joyful and to look for joy.

Kat, I just love yours. Looooove.

I try to live by “beauty is in the details”

Also, “I don’t care about money, I just want to be wonderful” (Marilyn Monroe) and “Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury” and “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” by Coco Chanel

A few come to mind-
No one fails on our watch.
It is what it is.
80% of life is showing up.
It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices.
I believe.

Mine is “Remain Calm and remember how lucky you are.”

I also really like “Beauty is as beauty does”.

I have a few, some are more humorous than others:

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

If sometimes you feel a little useless, offended or depressed, always remember that you were once the fastest and most victorious little sperm out of millions

But this is the one I try to live each day: Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Plato

My dad was the KING of the motto. He had a million.

My favorite?

“To be sucessful (1) show up (2) on time (3) ready to work.”

It’s applicable in almost every situation.

“in case you’re hit by a car or collapse or are felled in some equally horrible way”

By this logic we should wear one at all times, right? I mean, we’re going to die and someone needs to know, so should everyone wear a death bracelet?

Susan says: In your normal everyday life, I would assume that you have id on you or are with people who know you. But when you’re out riding or running, you’re not hauling a handbag or wallet, and if you’re like Wade and me, you’re alone and not necessarily close to home. That’s where the Road ID comes in.

I actually have a cork board above my creative space that is solely dedicated to life mottos. It is adored with adopted philosophies and little things that inspire me. Pictures, fragments of poems, quotes, song lyrics; whatever moves me at the time.

One that sticks out in my mind is a portion of the poem, Ask Me by William Stafford:

“Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life.”

Also, the road id is a great idea! My husband is a runner and he has one laced into his sneakers. He travels for work every other week and is always trying to get in a run wherever he is, so it really helps give me a little piece of mind.

Don’t postpone joy!

DON’T PANIC! (Hitchhiker’s Guide)

Life is too short to stuff a mushroom.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

As you judge, so shall you be judged. (The scariest verse in the Bible!)

Great post, Susan! My DH rides, too, and in summer some of those rides are super-long training rides for Ironman, not too mention his runs that take him miles from home. The Road ID is a great idea for him. Thanks!

And yes, he would be more concerned about his bike than himself, too.

Susan - Thanks for the info on the Road ID. I have been looking for something like that for Dad & me to wear when we are at the gym or outside walking. I’m going to order 2. (and tell Wade that mine will be pink for sure)

I love “I can do it.” I think I’m going to adopt that as MY motto.

We adore RoadId…all 6 of us have them for runs/bike rides and family trips to busy places. A few years ago we bought them as mom/dad’s day gifts for the grandparents. Fast forward, fil was out on a long walk and passed out. Had a stroke. People were able to get in contact with his wife and then when they got to hospital she forgot her English (first language is Dutch) and the emergency personnel were able to use the road id to get in contact with us/his sister because we had all 3 phone numbers on there. Best. Gift. Ever. He passed away but it was still a blessing that they were able to quickly contact everyone to be there with him.

I have never even heard of RoadID, but am checking now. I figure if I have my ipod on and something happens they can always find out who I am that way. Thanks for the heads up.

Life motto: When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and swing.

Let’s just say I am frequently swinging. Heh heh. I love a lot of these in your comments and the one on your bracelet. May have to adopt a few more!

Mine is “half the kidneys, twice the fun” ….. Gave my sister a kidney 13 years ago…

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