Thoughts I've Tried to Live By

R. C. Schafer, DC, PhD, FICC

The murderers of conscience (selfishness, cowardice, and fanaticism) are also its best impersonators.


Thinking on an act may give it quality, never power; acting on a thought gives it power.


Once a person realizes he's ignorant, he no longer is.


Some journey to the fountain of knowledge with a bucket, some with a thimble.


You can't grasp anything you don't reach for.


Don't cuss the alligators 'till you've crossed the river.


Habits make the best of servants, the worst of masters.


What is said may or may not be important. Who said it is rarely important.


People tend to beacon one of two mental attitudes at any one moment: the growing or the obsolete.


To avoid crucifixion: Dare, do, and keep silent.


A "you" attitude nourishes; a "me" attitude bloats.


There are two beasts within my breast [angel/devil], and each is determined to beat down the other.


In personal communications, never quote. If you have swallowed a belief, it's now your belief.


Listen aggressively; speak confidently en rapport.


Do what you can to push the consciousness of humanity; you'll find that you are being pulled.


Dreams at rest tend to remain at rest; dreams in motion tend to remain in motion.


Planning and research weaken the fear of the unknown.


What a person says after they have placed their hand on the doorknob to exit is likely the most significant information communicated during the entire meeting.


A fool can always find a greater fool to admire him.


It takes a wise person to know the difference between freedom and liberty.


One of the strongest drives of people is to feel appreciated.


Even if you are on the right track, you can get run over if you just sit there.


Troubled times are times for self-measurement.


You can get your way every time by finding out:

(1) who needs to be influenced,
(2) what concerns them most,
(3) what exactly do you want, and
(4) how you can harmonize their concerns with your wants in a common solution that will satisfy all involved.

The purpose of mind is to resolve, not to worry.


Ignorance is no sin (to err), but sin is ignorance.


We either manage or are managed by our problems.


People tend to believe that what might happen must happen.


Alert data gathering and sound thinking make foresight almost as good as hindsight.


Our Creator has given us a life with many aspects, like keys on a grand piano. Some wish to play a couple keys, and some choose several. Then there are also the musicians of life.


You do not have control of every situation presented, but you do have control of how you react to it.


If we could see financial opportunities as quickly as we see faults in others, we'd all be millionaires.


To a man of science, a theory is something to be tested. He seeks not to defend his beliefs, but to improve them. He is, above everything else, an expert at changing his mind.


The fellow who considers the whole world a problem might be surprised to hear what the world thinks of him.


Be careful not to tangle with the fella who thinks before he acts.


How can we judge others accurately if we refuse to judge ourselves accurately?


A wonderful thing of life is not so much where we stand but in what direction we are moving.


People see, hear, and believe only what they want to see, hear, and believe.


A well is not an ocean. Strive to substantiate your facts from several sources.


Those who handle problems well, the world calls "successful." Those who do not, handle excuses.


No patient or acquaintance ever called me "Doc," It was always Dr. Schafer. I liked that. I've heard that some colleagues had a nickname for me: bullfighter. I liked that too.


Ignorant is a poor descriptor; unaware is much better.


All life is in a state of becoming.


If the macrocosm (ie, celestial space) is infinite, so must be the microcosm.


The higher the pressure, the less accurate the information received. The higher the pressure, the greater need for more accurate information.


Ninety-five percent of the people don't mean 95% of what they say but would rather die than admit it. And many do.


A single painful experience can hurt three times: during its anticipation, when it actually occurs, and during its remembrance. Why should a pain be tripled?


A fella said, "The world owes me. I didn't ask to be born." So somebody shot him.


The splendor of the Rockies, the magnificence of the starry heavens. --Do we look in awe or view them as works of a lucky amateur?


One look is worth 100 reports.


What people are really saying when they declare "I never had a chance" is that they never had the courage.


Many a person can look back and trace good fortune to some misfortune.


A fool in a high station is like a man on top of a mountain. Everyone below appears small to him --and he appears tiny to everyone else.


He said, "Subconscious intelligence is omnipotent." I said, "But I have the power to wiggle my little finger." He said, "Then name the many muscles that must contract and relax, and explain how you coordinate the multimillion neurologic, hormonal, circulatory, metabolite, etc, activities integrated, synergized, and harmonized so precisely in a mere moment."


A great person must first be a welcomed person. Why should anybody want you around?


People are proud creatures.


"X-rays will prove to be a hoax." "Radio has no future." "Heavier than air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, president, The Royal Society, 1895


Often a bill is itemized so much for labor and so much for materials or parts. This is erroneous. All charges are for labor. All raw materials come directly or indirectly from natural resources, which are free. The cost is in bringing these resources to you in the form presented, and this takes labor by people somewhere at some time. Because labor is all, human relations is all.


I work in a room whose temperature is 65°F. A friend who has been working in a room of 40°F enters. I ask, "Truthfully, is this room warm or cool?" "Warm," he says. Another friend who has been working in a room of 90°F has also entered. I ask, "Truthfully, is this room warm or cool?" "Cool," he says. They both point to one another and say, "He's ignorant!" I give one friend a tablespoon of vinegar and have him bite a ripe apple. I ask, "Truthfully, is this apple sweet or sour?" "Sweet," he says. I give the other friend a tablespoon of honey and have him bite the same apple. I ask, "Truthfully, is this apple sweet or sour?" "Sour," he says. They both point to one another and say, "He's ignorant!"


Always speak the truth if it will not harm an innocent. Speak it without malice so that those who disagree may leave with enlightened guilt.


The only thing significantly different between a caveman and today's scientist or engineer is "know how" --reflecting an evolution in consciousness.


Hindus believe that a human soul may reincarnate as a fly, for example. I cannot accept this. If a student fails fifth grade, he repeats it. He is not placed again in first grade. As above, so below. As below, so above.


Within the mind is a witness, sender, and receiver. The wise should not feel guilt with the perception of an uncouth thought. Let it gently pass, as turning the knob on a radio from one station to another, from noise to a soothing melody.


I am not a mere wave in time and place; my essence is the ocean.


Some view a cup as possibly half filled or half empty. I view the same container as completely filled: half with liquid, half with gases. Nature abhors a void.


"Commencement" in graduation exercises does not refer to an ending but a new beginning. So too with so-called birth and death.

©

And some stood proudly erect, on a level some higher than their previous station, now where the viewpoint
was different, and said, "Oh captain, my captain." And he said softly, "Thank you" and took his leave.
--Paraphrased from "The Dead Poets Society"

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