What's the best advice you're ever been given?

[Flickstix]

Be it from mumsnet or real life!

'ride a white swan'...understood the meaning of this when I used gas and air.

'live on a carpet of trust'...advice given to me and hubby by a lovely man when we had just been married a few weeks.

"Eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full" ...best diet advice ever !

Once you leave school you'll never have to see those spoilt bitches other girls ever again, so try to ignore them when they spend all of Monday morning showing off the expensive clothes Daddy bought them to hide the fact he's never actually around.

Two more!

The mantra of every parent I think - pick your battles.

And advice for brunettes from my (slightly dotty) Grandma - if you eat brown eggs, you'll keep your brown hair. It didn't work obviously.

don't judge, just support.

what doesn't kill you makes you stronger

I never understood the one about wearing clean underwear just in case you got hit by a bus!
If I did get hit by a bus I'd probably shit myself (or would be in a coma or whatever) so what difference would clean underwear do?

do paramedics routinely say: "don't bother with assessing the situation or a recovery position or stop the bleeding, first of all we must check how clean her knickers are!"

You can't polish a turd.

Worrying is wasted energy

1 - take no shit. 2 - Everything is a phase. If it's a good phase, enjoy it; if it's a bad phase, remember it will end.

Always carry papers/file when walking around skiving/chatting to colleagues at work it makes you look busy. Has always served me well.

Live within your means (I don't even have a credit card!), thanks grandpa!

Choose your battles, i.e. your voice loses weight if you shout about everything, choose what is really important. Thanks Dad!

Always have a job and your own bank account. Thanks Mom!

Feed the good wolf.

Fro this story:

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

feefi that is just plain superb and so so wise

Blimey that is deep feefi! Love it.

Do what feels right and trust your instincts is good advice.

Still waters run deep (not sure if that is advice or a proverb!)

From a wise older work colleague; 'When you are juggling so many balls, you WILL drop one occasionally. Accept it and then move on.'

From my mum: 'Expect your children to behave like children not mini adults'. Has served me well when my expectations of behaviour have in the past been too high.

My mum is also fond of 'walk a mile in their shoes, until you have you can't judge them.'

If you hate your job that much then leave it. Don't drag your colleagues down because YOU are miserable.

In the vein of if you can't afford it then don't have it my Dad put it this way and I saw it in action.

I was about 8 years old.

"Sweetheart, when you grow up and get married, if you have no money sit on orange boxes until you have saved up for a chair. When you have a chair share the chair and the orange box with your husband and take turns on the orange box. When you invite friends round and they sit on the chair or the orange box or the floor and then come back................they are friends. If they sneer at the floor and the orange box then they are not friends"

I had first hand experience at this when I was a poor and newly married student. One 'friend' sneered and refused to sit down or eat. The ones that sat down on the floor/orange box are still my friends today and I don't give a monkey's chuff what she is doing today!

Just thought of another one!!

Its the grit that makes the pearl

Said by my dad in response to me pulling my hair out at my then toddler dd having the most extreme of meltdowns - that became a mantra!!

feeling bitter is like drinking poison but expecting someone else to die (may have got that slightly wrong but you get my drift) that came from the wise oracle that is Peter Andre!!

Don't look backwards, it's not the way you're heading.

Pick your battles.

If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

...and be nice to everyone on the way up cos you don't know who you'll meet on the way down. That one's been solid gold and has actually gotme a job twice :o

Never go to bed on an argument

If it's not on, it's not on - my Dad's one and only discussion with me about sex and contraception

And to add to an earlier post, you may not be able to polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter

don't put the baby in your bed. We didn't & I'm so glad now listening to some of my younger friends who had kids after us moaning that they can't get whichever child to sleep in their own bed all night

"I'm a mother myself", said the sow as she sat on the eggs" (Saki).
Just because someone apparently has experience in a particular area doesn't mean their advice will be right for the situation you're in. Helps me remember to trust common sense too!

Try again. Fail again. Fail better. (Samuel Beckett)

It gets better. (my mum)

Perception is reality

and

When in conversation with someone, if you're running out of things to say, just keep turning the conversation back onto the other person, e.g. ask them questions about themselves. Most people love to talk about themselves, and probably won't even notice you're saying nothing much.

This too will pass.