Philosophical ideas to get through hard times

The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski

Your life is your life.
Don't let it be clubbed into dark submission.
Be on the watch there are ways out.
There is light somewhere.
It may not be much light but it beats the darkness.
Be on the watch.
The gods will offer you chances.
Know them.
Take them.
You can't beat death but you can beat death in life sometimes.
And the more often you learn to do it, the more light there will be.
Your life is your life.
Know it while you have it.
You are marvellous.
The gods wait to delight in you.

Sleep the sleep of the just. Anon.

Mahatma Gandhi
"To lose patience is to lose the battle.”

I went to the country - just the other day
To see my Uncle Bill and sorta pass the time away
I asked him how he'd been - since last, I'd passed his way
He rubbed his chin - here's what he had to say.

"My wife's been sick - the young'ns, too
And I'm durn near - down with the flu
The cow's gone dry - and them hens won't lay
But - we're still a-livin' - so EVER'THING'S Okay.

The hogs took the cholera and they've all done died
The bees got mad - and they left the hive
The weevils got the corn and the rain rotted the hay
But - we're still a-livin' - so EVER'THING'S Okay.

The porch rotted down - that's more expense
The durned old mule - he tore down the fence
The mortgage is due and - I can't pay
But - we're still a-livin' - so EVER'THING'S Okay.

The cow broke in the field and eat up the beans
The durn rabbits - they got the turnip greens
And my Ma-in-law just moved in to stay
But - we're still a-livin' - so EVER'THING'S Okay.

My land's so poor - so hard and "yeller"
You have to set on a sack of fetilizer to raise an "umbreller"
And it rains out here - nearly ever' day
But - we're still a-livin' - so EVER'THING'S Okay.

The well's gone dry and I have to tote the water
Up from the spring - about a mile and a quarter
My helper, he quit - for the lack of pay
But - we're still a-livin' - so EVER'THING'S Okay.

The house it leaks - it needs a new top
When it rains - it wets ever'thing we got
The chimney fell down - just yesterday
But - we're still a-livin' - so EVER'THING'S Okay.

The corn meals gone and the meat's run out
Got nothin' to kill to put in the smokehouse
The preacher's comin' Sunday - to spend the day
But - we're still a-livin' - so EVER'THING'S Okay.

The canned stuff's spoiled - else the jar's got broke
And all we got left is one old Billy goat
We're gonna have a new baby about the first of May
But - we're still a-livin' - so EVER'THING'S Okay.

My crop it rotted - in the ground
I asked for another loan but the banker turned me down
But - we're still a-livin' and we're prayin' for better days
So - after all, ever'thing's in purty good shape."

-- Hank Williams Sr

I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside.

Wayne Dyer

I love sleep you know. My life has a tendency to fall apart when l am awake.
- Ernest Hemingway

Sleep the sleep of the just. Anon.

Do one thing every day that scares you
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Change before you have to.
- Jack Welch.

"No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices."
Edward R. Murrow

Sleep the sleep of the just. Anon

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves -- Viktor Frankl

Sleep the sleep of the just. Anon.

“It is not fear that stops you from doing the brave and true thing in your daily life. Rather, the problem is avoidance. You want to feel comfortable so you avoid doing or saying the thing that will evoke fear and other difficult emotions. Avoidance will make you feel less vulnerable in the short run but, it will never make you less afraid.”
― Harriet Lerner

It's not the wakin', it's the risin'
It is the groundin' of a foot uncompromisin'
It's not forgoin' of the lie
It's not the openin' of eyes
It's not the wakin', it's the risin'
It's not the shade we should be cast in
It's the light and it's the obstacle that casts it
It's the heat that drives the light
It's the fire it ignites
It's not the wakin', it's the risin'
It's not the song, it is the singin'
It's the heaven of the human spirit ringin'
It is the bringin' of the line
It is the bearin' of the lie
It's not the wakin', it's the risin'
And I could cry power (power)
Andrew Hozier

"Que sera sera" as Doris Day once sang. Whatever will be will be, the future's not ours to see.
Always let your conscience be your guide - I think that's from another song - Disney perhaps?
Do as you would be done by - Charles Kingsley I think.

Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must have.

Charles Bukowski.

Needed to see this quote today as l went well and truly crazy today. Could not help myself.
Great work above everyone.
Dawn.

“When you want to know how things really work, study them when they're coming apart.”
― William Gibson

“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
Albus Dumbledore

Don't look up to anyone.
Don't look down on anyone.
Sadhguru

Sleep the sleep of the just. Anon.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” – Marie Curie

Once you choose hope anything is possible.
Christopher Reeves.

Sleep the sleep of the just. Anon.

Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.

--Thomas Aquinas

How happy is the little stone
By Emily Dickenson

How happy is the little Stone
That rambles in the Road alone
And doesn't care about Careers
And Exigencies never fears -
Whose coat of elemental Brown
A passing Universe put on
And independent as the Sun
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute Decree
In casual simplicity.

Interesting how she uses sporadic capital letters. I suppose for best effect. Good little poem.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May."
- William Shakespeare