Confidence Quotes

...And why I hate them.

"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different."  But each of us is different.

Now, if I met a guy and I found myself trying to be like him to get his attention – or the same with a girl – then this quote might be useful.  But most of the time, we are different just the way we are.  But it's  our similarities, not our differences, which bring us together.

I understand the point of this quote – it's to say that you shouldn't be ashamed to be different.  But I think the only people who care about this quote are taking it for more than that.  I've seen far too many people using quotes like this to back up behavior that needs to be reigned in.  We've all seen it – in real life and in movies or television.  It's ridiculous.  They're super opinionated, loud, obnoxious, and too strong-minded.  These people were born this way, anyway, but quotes about being different make people forget that there is such a thing as rudeness, such a thing as relating to other people.

"If you've never lost your mind then you've never followed your heart."  So my heart is trying to send me to a lunatic asylum?

The times that I have lost my mind have not been pleasant.  Yeah, I guess you could say I was following my heart….  If that's the way you want to put it, then I'm not totally sure that following your heart is a good thing.

This quote could mean something else by "lost your mind," I suppose, but I'm not sure what.  If it is trying to tell me that I will feel insanely happy and light as a feather, then I will believe that when I get there.  But I hardly think that feeling is guaranteed to come with following my heart.  I might do something dumb, but again, this quote is based on the presumed premise that following your heart is the epitome of great things!  And so far, the evidence is pointing to the opposite.

"I like flaws and am most comfortable around those who have them.  I, myself, and made up entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions."  This one just blows my mind.

You're most comfortable around people who have flaws?  …Do you have a limit?  Like, if you're with people who don't give a darn about you or anything else, doesn't that bother you?  Are you comfortable with murderers and thieves and whatnot?  Are you comfortable with people who swear and disrespect people?

Okay, anyone who stand behind this quote probably doesn't mean it to that extent.  But this quote seems to show to me only the most refined pride.  "I've made mistakes, but I'm proud of them because I meant well.  Who cares that I've hurt people, sold myself short, or reaped consequences?  I meant well. And no one is perfect."  No, no one is perfect, but I'm going to keep trying to be, if you don't mind; and I'm sorry for my mistakes.  If I meant well, that only shows a lack of wisdom on my part….

I understand the good intentions behind motivational quotes, but after a point, they work against their own end.  If all you ever hear is that you are fine the way you are, that you should be as different from everyone else as you can, that following your heart is the most important thing in the whole world – you start to fall short even of what you yourself want for yourself.  You stop striving for more; stop striving for a better you, for unity with creation, for wisdom and righteousness.

I've mentioned before that affirmation drives me crazy because it feels extravagant and fake.  It's kind of the same thing going on here.  These are great ideas to ponder over, but I cringe whenever I see people gluing their lives to them.  When people are married to quotes that glorify these shallow ideas, I want to cry.  These people are on a road to self-destruction, and I'm also finding them very hard to get along with.  Some people get a long way on these things, I realize, but I can't help but wonder what kind of existence that is.

Not to mention that psychology says that it rarely helps to overly build up the ego.  It often has the opposite effect ultimately.

I'm all for bettering self-images and improving society's message, but something subtler and more penetrating and better balanced would be so much better.

~Meggy

As He is Pure

Still my "I'm too awesome" song

Snakebite on chastity:

The first principle is always: Dim the Lights!  Keep his mind darkened.  Those stupid vermin will dance like fleas around issues of sexual morality, complexifying the simplest questions and rationalizing their answers with incredible dexterity – all because we keep their mind off the first and simplest truth: that the Enemy has written the world's simplest sex manual for them, with only two commands in it.  First, "be fruitful and multiply".  Sex is His invention.  Second, "thou shalt not commit adultery".  No sex outside marriage, before or after.  In it, the more, the merrier.

…

When he thinks of his own desires, due to the work of our agents, he, like most Americans, confuses his "needs" with his "wants" and thus is convinced that his great sexual wants equal great sexual needs.  Of course this is nonsense; he has water needs but not sex needs.  He'd die without water, but not without sex.  But he doesn't want to notice that fact.

Anberlin

"I wanna be your last first kiss"

1 John 3:2-3

Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.  We do know that when it is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.

Annie Lennox

 beautiful lyrics in this song

"What do you see on the horizon?"
"The ships have come to carry you home."

Emiliana Torrini

"We can never go home."

Adam Lambert

very sad and moving lyrics

"No one wants to dig that deep."
"A red river of screams – underneath – tears in my eyes – underneath – stars in my black and blue sky – underneath – under my skin – underneath – the depths of my sin – Look at me – Now do you see?"

Freeing Yourself From Anxiety: The Four-Step Plan to Overcome Worry and Create the Life You Want – by Tamar E. Chansky, PhD

Choose the voice of your internal [emotional] GPS.  It could be someone you know, like a trusted friend or adviser, or someone you don't know, like a celebrity or character from a film or novel.  Picture in your mind that person calmly or comically letting you know that you can "turn around as soon as possible," reminding you that it's okay to get back on your track and not get detoured farther by that emotional wrong turn.  Write it on a sign to stick over your workstation or desk.  The more you remember that turning around is an option, and a good one, the sooner you'll take advantage of it.

~Meggy