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Platitudes
lobster
Crusty Veteran
As we all know, providing platitudes can be self defeating
http://scottberkun.com/2011/what-are-the-most-annoying-platitudes/
However once the self is defeated, even platitudes might be great wisdom. It depends on our capacity to hear and absorb, rather than react and project ...
http://recoveringyogi.com/insightful-or-insipid-a-handy-guide-to-platitudes/
Which are your favs?
Be kind 
2
Comments
..."At the end of the day..."
(It gets dark.)
Nothing is impossible.
A platitude while meant to be positive and uplifting can sometimes be annoying.
Good to challenge our limits but we also need to accept those things which cannot be changed.
I quite like “go with the flow”... for computer programmers this has a double meaning, as ‘flow’ is a particular state of concentration in problem solving where executing the steps of a solution seems to come naturally.
But it’s also kind of true, following the path of least resistance is a good philosophy in many cases in life. Except where the body is concerned, where it definitely seems to be the case that making the body work just expands its future capabilities.
Looking through that list, for the most part they didn't bother me. I wonder if maybe the problem with platitudes is while they generally point to a truism they are universally applicable. So they can be either fit the situation or miss the mark.
The one that does bother me is "Everything happens for a reason". To me that implies some kind of preordained plan. I can agree that everything has a cause or that there is some kind of silver lining to be found or a lesson to be learned in most situations, but those have to do with how we choose to perceive something rather than some kind of objective truth about reality.
I like platitudes! .....: In the South, we like our one liners....so... learn to live with it. (That one should be on the list, hahaha)
I would never personally use them in a serious situation/conversation with someone, though. That's too insensitive and could go wrong very quickly!
As the OP second link talks about.....sometimes the quotes I see online, give me an eye roll/crack up. ( The irony or contradiction).
One that I do like a lot is "can't see the forest for the trees"
It's easy to get involved in our world and interests, because that's what we need to do in life, and forget to put it into the larger context so that our concerns get blown out of proportion.
Thanks every one
One of the reasons I ask is to remind ourselves of empty Buddhist platitudes ... for example
eh ... any more?
https://speculativenonbuddhism.com/2012/05/09/on-the-faith-of-secular-buddhists/
"Different Strokes For Different Folks"
Make me one with everything.
Then the point of this thread/tread is there is nothing to achieve
Why the Alan Watts reference PIC....
_
I would if i could. An applicable platitude
A classic example of someone talking the talk but not practicing the walk.
A life in platitudes.
Do we need other pics and finger pointing at moonshine? Nah, actions speak louder than platitudes ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/jt0sy/zen_master_lou_nordstrom_alan_watts_didnt/
Hmm Don't mistake the finger pointing to the moon for the moon
Don't eat the menu for the meal.
Unless you're really hungry and the menu is made from edible rice paper
You two seriously need to get a room....
Perhaps ... that after all is a profound platitude
Nothing to achieve, everything to die for ...
In the words of Sid (heart a Buddha):
“They blame those who remain silent, they blame those who speak much, they blame those who speak in moderation. There is none in the world who is not blamed.”
http://www.realbuddhaquotes.com/page/2/
Its more my own problem and something I should just get over but I thought i'd write about anyway.
I find it annoying when people use the word fair enough when it doesn't really make any sense especially if thats all they say. In many contexts it sounds dissmisive or passive aggresive to me but ofc its more me taking it as problem ;P There are a lot of misused english phrases like basically and to be honest.
I write this here because I think its something interesting to ponder upon and let go of. It is something though that has actually genuinely annoyed me however
sometimes small things like this can become bothersome lol
Basically, and to be honest I respond to your comments as fair enough. I am genuinely annoyed by being annoyed and I try to work with it through meditation. You know what I mean, you follow me huh? Of course different strokes for different folks, whatever does it for you, whatever scratches your itch. You see what I'm saying? Just playin Man.
Fair enough
Ha ha! Sorry, I couldn't resist.....
I understand where you're coming from.....I get slightly annoyed when people say "I got up at 7am in the morning"
The very fact you've said "am" is enough.....
@Carameltail , have you seen this thread?
Sssh!!! You sound like a Collingwood supporter.....
I spend all my time here engaged in silly ranting [lobster full disclosure] ?
Sadly I am not allowed to keep pet trolls on this forum (they get banned by our zealous moderators) which is fair enough understandable ... ?
One of the best ways of ranting is a blog, diary or posting thoughts ... ??
https://www.websitetooltester.com/en/blog/best-free-website-builders/
Here is a bit of my earlier ranting for you to do better than ... ?
http://yinyana.tumblr.com/day/2014/05/15
It is a sign of increasing mindfulness to become aware of the phrases that you are using and to notice that some of them don’t even mean what they say... it is all part of skilful speech and building the right impression to give to your listeners.
Ha ha! Go Blues....
One that sticks in my craw: "It is what it is."
Yeah, this is definitely an overlap with the other thread ('Platitudes') Am merging threads....
...NOW!
Oh boy. If you were around me your craw would be frequently stuck.
It's always in the last place you look.
I can be your pet troll.
But we want me to stay around, so that I can be your pet troll.
So what we'll do is, I wont troll on the forum, and we'll just have a private understanding between the two of us that I am a troll in my secretmost inner essence.
When I was very young, one halloween, my family spiked up my rather red hair into a single column so that I could look like a troll doll. So I have experience, compared to candidates with none.
You and me both. Our moderators are very fierce with a zero tolerance policy for certain behavours. Your best bet is to instigate a policy of reformed wrathful troll behavour as a dharma protector ...
eg.
Platitude responses now ensue:
I wish you every success. Don't shoot the messenger. Here to help. Yours in the dharma.
I'm in two minds...I just can't decide which one to go with
I had hopes for you this weekend
Look before you leap
But also bear in mind ...
He who hesitates is lost
Really? You are far more optimistic than I!
Good things come to those who wait
.....and wait and wait and wait and wait
Like @Bunks and his beloved Carlton
That’s what my fiancé said too
Such is life
Company Policy.
Aaaaaaargh! If I hear that one more time......!!
Commonly misattributed to Einstein, this quote in its current form as shown in the image above seems to have originated in a Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet printed in 1981. If you're interested in some exhaustive research into the quote and the idea behind it, check out this link.
I hear ya, @ScottPen; The vast, inumerable quotations attributed to the Buddha are in fact, not his words at all.
But these things persist....
Even Abe Lincoln had something to say on the matter.
Honest, he did.
… ont pû tromper quelques hommes, ou les tromper tous dans certains lieux & en certains tems, mais non pas tous les hommes, dans tous les lieux & dans tous les siécles.
_~Jacques Abbadie~_1684
One can fool some men, or fool all men in some places and times, but one cannot fool all men in all places and ages
“There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.”
One saying I can't even think of without using Dr Phil's Voice in my head is
"Whut duzzent Kill yew maikes yew shtrawngur..!"
(Although I do like the later riposte, which goes "What doesn't kill you merely delays the inevitable." ... )
Better late than never (..When it comes to the Buddha Dharma)
I love that quote. I usually use the latter half now instead of the original if I want to make that point.