Don’t trust a book by its cover, the old saying goes. And for that …

Source: Professional weightlifter dresses up as old man, challenges lifters at Muscle Beach – Holy Kaw!

There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally. Let these mantras guide you.

Source: 7 Mantras that Will Stop You from Taking Things Personally

Ten years from now, make sure you can say you chose your life, you didn’t settle for it.

Source: Choose Your Life, Don’t Settle for It – Tiny Buddha

Do not waste time with negative people Don’t waste another minute dealing with a toxic, negative, energydraining person. Some people are wired for negativity. They love being argumentative, combative and abusive. Run for your life as quickly as possible. — Les Brown

Source: Do not waste time with negative people by Les Brown

Being weird Being a little weird is just a natural side effect of being awesome. — Sue Fitzmaurice

Source: Being weird by Sue Fitzmaurice

The words and phrases we choose have a powerful impact on our relationships. We should take those listed [in the source article] and do our best to eliminate them from our vocabulary. Then, focus on working in words and phrases that lift people up instead. This is the way to a healthy, lasting relationship.

Source: The Common Phrases that are Ruining Our Relationships. | elephant journal

Whenever we practice meditation, it is important to try to refrain from criticizing ourselves about how we practice and what comes up in our practice. This would only be training in being hard on ourselves! I want to emphasize the importance of maintaining an atmosphere of unconditional friendliness when you practice and as you take your practice out into the world. We can practice for a lot of years—I know many people who have practiced for countless years, decades even—and somewhere along into their umpteenth year, it dawns on them that they haven’t been using that practice to develop lovingkindness for themselves. Rather, it’s been somewhat aggressive meditation toward themselves, perhaps very goal-oriented. As someone said, “I meditated all those years because I wanted people to think I was a good Buddhist.” Or, “I meditated all those years out of a feeling of I should do this, it would be good for me.” And so naturally we come to meditation with the same attitudes with which we come to everything. I’ve seen this with students time and time again, and it is very human.

Source: Making Friends with Oneself | Tricycle

Do not hurt anyone Don’t hurt anyone. It only takes a few seconds to hurt people you love, and it can take years to heal. — Nanu Thakuri

Source: Do not hurt anyone by Nanu Thakuri

A modern day interpretation…

These two cats must have a lot to talk about, because they chatter back and forth for a minute. And then they start to give each other baths.

Source: Two cats chat with each other – Holy Kaw!

Mindfulness is the greatest (and cheapest) escape because you only need your attention to get the most out of your precious break and simply relax and renew

Source: Mindfulness: A New Way of Life – Purpose Fairy