25 clichés that are actually true and how they could change your life.

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Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of the things we’ve learned, over and over again.

25 clichés that are actually true and how they could change your life.

Socrates, considered to be one of the founders of Western philosophy, was once called the wisest man on Earth by the Oracle of Delphi.

When Socrates heard that the oracle made that comment, he believed the statement was wrong. Socrates said, "I know one thing: that I know nothing."

How can the smartest man on Earth know nothing?

I heard this paradoxical wisdom for the first time from a teacher when I was 14 or 15. It made such an impact on me that I used Socrates’ quote as my learning strategy from then on.

"I know nothing" means, to me, that you might be an educated person, but still you can learn from everything and everyone.

One thing I like better than learning from my own mistakes is to learn from other people’s mistakes. Over the years, I’ve been blessed to have great mentors, teachers, family, and friends who have taught me about life. Of course, I learn from my own life too. But learning from others is often faster and deeper.

Plus, while we might learn things quickly, we often forget those things at the same rate. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of the things we’ve learned, over and over again.

So here’s my list of 25 things about life that other people have taught me.

These are things that have changed my life completely and that I wish I’d known about 10 years ago.

1. Struggle is good.

Never say, "I can’t take it anymore." Say, "Bring it on!"

2. Don’t complain.

Complaining is the biggest waste of time there is. Either do something about it, and if you can’t, shut up.

3. Spend time with the people you love.

That’s your family and best friends. If you don’t have a family, create one (in whatever way that means to you). Most people in life are only visitors. Family is for life.

Photo via iStock.

4. Don’t start a relationship if you’re not in love.

I’ve done this more than once. You kind of like someone and think, "We might as well give it a shot." Not a good idea. You’re either in love, or you are not. Don’t fool yourself. It’s not fair to you and the other person.

5. Exercise daily.

I didn’t get this until recently. A healthy body is where you have to start everything in life. If you can’t build a healthy and strong body, what CAN you build in life?

6. Keep a journal.

No, keeping a journal is not for children. It helps you to become a better thinker and writer. "I don’t want to be a writer," you might think. Well, how many emails and texts do you send a day? Everybody is a writer.

7. Be grateful.

Say "thank you" to everyone and everything. "Thank you for this beautiful day." "Thank you for your email." "Thank you for being there for me."

8. Don’t care about what people think.

We all die in the end; do you really think it matters what people think of you?

9. Take more risks.

Don’t be such a wimp.

Photo via iStock.

10. Pick an industry, not a job.

If you want to become good at something, you need to spend years and years doing that. You can’t do that if you hop from industry to industry. Pick an industry you love and start at the bottom. You will find the perfect role for you eventually.

11. Lead the way.

When you find yourself in a situation where everyone looks at each other, it’s time for you to lead. You‘re a leader when you decide to become one. There’s no initiation or a title. Just a decision.

12. Money isn't important.

It really isn’t. But you have to train yourself not to care about money. Don’t become too dependent on the stuff you own — otherwise, the stuff will own you.

13. Be nice.

I don’t mean you should be a pushover. You can be someone that doesn’t take shit and be nice about it. Just don’t insult people, think you’re better than them, or act like an idiot.

14. Learn every day.

You’ve got to train your brain to stay alert. You don’t have to read a book a day to learn every day. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from the people around you — be open to what they can teach you.

Photo via iStock.

15. Rest before you are tired.

Even if you love your job and every day seems like a holiday, you need to take time to rest. You’re a human and not an android; never forget that.

16. Don't judge.

Just because people make different choices than you, they are not stupid. Also, you don’t know everything about people, so don’t judge them — help them.

17. Think about others.

Just be mindful, that’s all. We all have families, bills to pay, and our own issues. Don’t always make everything about yourself.

18. Give without expecting something in return.

Don’t keep score. You will become a bitter person if you do that. Give solely for the joy of giving. If you get something in return, great, and if you don’t, great.

19. There's no end game.

We, as a species, just are. Don’t try to figure it all out. Enjoy your journey.

20. Enjoy small things.

I like clichés because they are (usually) true. Especially this one. You know why? Everyone says they know it, but no one lives up to it. They just chase big things.

Photo via iStock.

21. Don't take yourself so seriously.

Yeah, yeah, you’re an individual, and people have to take you seriously. I get it. But at the end of the day, we’re all a bunch of ants trying to chase the same things. Lighten up.

22. Don't blame people.

What’s the point? Do you want to punish them? Also don’t blame yourself — you’re only human.

23. Create something.

Not to leave a legacy (you won’t be here to see it anyway), but to be of use. Make music, write a book, build a table, anything. You’ll feel good about yourself, plus you give something back to people to use or enjoy.

24. Never look back for too long.

Reflecting on the past is only good for one thing: learning.

25. Take action.

Don’t just sit there; do something. Without action, there is no outcome.

Photo via iStock.

You might know a lot. But like Socrates, you and I also know nothing at all. So we have to keep learning.

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Spanking can alter kids' brain development the way more severe abuse does, new study finds

Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Researchers at Harvard University have studied the connection between spanking and kids' brain development for the first time, and their findings echo what studies have indicated for years: Spanking isn't good for children.

Comments on this article will no doubt be filled with people who a) say they were spanked and "turned out fine" or b) say that the reason kids are [fill in the blank with some societal ill] these days are because they aren't spanked. However, a growing body of research points to spanking creating more problems than it solves.

"We know that children whose families use corporal punishment are more likely to develop anxiety, depression, behavior problems, and other mental health problems, but many people don't think about spanking as a form of violence," said Katie A. McLaughlin, director of the Stress & Development Lab in the Department of Psychology, and the senior researcher on the study which was published Friday in the journal Child Development. "In this study, we wanted to examine whether there was an impact of spanking at a neurobiological level, in terms of how the brain is developing."

You can read the entire study here, but the gist is that kids' brain activity was measured using an MRI machine as they reacted to photos of actors displaying "fearful" and "neutral" faces. What researchers found was that kids who had been spanked had similar brain neural responses to fearful faces as kids who had been abused.

"There were no regions of the brain where activation to fearful relative to neutral faces differed between children who were abused and children who were spanked," the authors wrote in a statement.

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#ScienceWillWin

We asked three people about how vaccines have impacted their lives. Here’s what they said.

Images courtesy of John Scully, Walden University, Ingrid Scully

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Since March of 2020, over 29 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the CDC. Over 540,000 have died in the United States as this unprecedented pandemic has swept the globe. And yet, by the end of 2020, it looked like science was winning: vaccines had been developed.

In celebration of the power of science we spoke to three people: an individual, a medical provider, and a vaccine scientist about how vaccines have impacted them throughout their lives. Here are their answers:

John Scully, 79, resident of Florida

Photo courtesy of John Scully

When John Scully was born, America was in the midst of an epidemic: tens of thousands of children in the United States were falling ill with paralytic poliomyelitis — otherwise known as polio, a disease that attacks the central nervous system and often leaves its victims partially or fully paralyzed.

"As kids, we were all afraid of getting polio," he says, "because if you got polio, you could end up in the dreaded iron lung and we were all terrified of those." Iron lungs were respirators that enclosed most of a person's body; people with severe cases often would end up in these respirators as they fought for their lives.

John remembers going to see matinee showings of cowboy movies on Saturdays and, before the movie, shorts would run. "Usually they showed the news," he says, "but I just remember seeing this one clip warning us about polio and it just showed all these kids in iron lungs." If kids survived the iron lung, they'd often come back to school on crutches, in leg braces, or in wheelchairs.

"We all tried to be really careful in the summer — or, as we called it back then, 'polio season,''" John says. This was because every year around Memorial Day, major outbreaks would begin to emerge and they'd spike sometime around August. People weren't really sure how the disease spread at the time, but many believed it traveled through the water. There was no cure — and every child was susceptible to getting sick with it.

"We couldn't swim in hot weather," he remembers, "and the municipal outdoor pool would close down in August."

Then, in 1954 clinical trials began for Dr. Jonas Salk's vaccine against polio and within a year, his vaccine was announced safe. "I got that vaccine at school," John says. Within two years, U.S. polio cases had dropped 85-95 percent — even before a second vaccine was developed by Dr. Albert Sabin in the 1960s. "I remember how much better things got after the vaccines came out. They changed everything," John says.

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