Top 10 Most Dangerous Sayings Ever

English speaking people have been blessed with a myriad of strange sayings that, although few people today know the origin, continue to pepper our daily conversation.  Sadly, many of these odd sayings perpetuate a negative way of thinking.  People say them with such conviction, as if their very longevity in our culture makes them absolute truths.  This is very dangerous because our words have such power over the direction of our lives, and we need to be ever vigilant about what we say.

The part that really frightens me is that I sometimes hear these ridiculous sayings echoing around in my own mind.  Thankfully I eavesdrop on my mind, so I can usually catch them and cleanse myself of them.  Yet I wonder how many people are really conscious about what mindsets these sayings are affirming in their own minds.   After someone said one of these sayings to me today, I knew I just had to put together a list, so without further ado I give you my list of the Top 10 Most Dangerous Sayings Ever

#10 Don't count your chickens until they're hatched.

The idea behind this one is that some of the chickens may die before they ever hatch, so don't count on those eggs all turning into chickens.  In other words don't get all excited about your goals and dreams because they may never come to fruition.  Much better to sit around and plan for some of your dreams to fail.  Yeah, because that's a real productivity booster!

#9 Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Really wondering right now why we are so obsessed with chickens and egg laying.   Now I can honestly see the wisdom in not putting all the eggs in the same basket, in case you drop the basket or it gets run over in a pig stampede or something.  How it applies in everyday life is that you shouldn't aim all of your hope and effort in one direction.  In other words, don't focus.  Don't give your dream 100% of yourself.   Spread yourself around so that if one dream fails, you've still got some others in the hopper.  You know why this theory seems so true? Because most people do spread their eggs around, they don't focus and therefore their dreams die on the vine (sorry for the mixed metaphor).  I vote that we throw caution to the wind and shove every damn egg we have into that one basket, and make a run for it towards our dreams!

#8 Better safe than sorry.

Yup.  Much better not to try at all.  You could get hurt.  You could fail.  Much better just to stay in the safe, yet unfulfilling place you are now, than to take a risk and reach towards your dreams.  Change is scary and could be dangerous. Your whole life could totally change, so it's better just to stay put.  You know what you have now and that's good enough.  Which leads me to my next dangerous saying…

#7 Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.

Again this is a dig against change.  This one usually comes up when you are facing the prospect of getting a new boss or taking a new job.  Your current boss or job sucks, but the new one could suck even worse. Much better to stay with the suckiness that you are familiar with, than to take a risk and end up with worse suckiness. The problem with both of these sayings is that they perpetuate a fear of change.  Guess what? Change is good!  Change is awesome!  Change is how you are going to get somewhere better than where you are now!  If you want to stay with sucky, fine stay there.  But if you want to get to something better in life, you are going to have to remove these two sayings from your vocabulary and your thoughts.

#6 Don't get your hopes up.

Well if that isn't just the rudest thing to say to someone.  Had a corporate account manager say that to me today, which is what prompted this diatribe.  As if she didn't realize that we put our minds to it, we could totally manifest a closure to this big deal before the end of the month.  Instead she just says "don't get your hopes up".  Well if we never get our hopes up how are we going to make anything happen?  Do people really expect to have success by not hoping?  Well, I've totally got my hopes up that even though my sales numbers are in the toilet so far this month, I can still pull off a big finish.  I've got 2.5 more days in the month.  Anything can happen.  So yeah, I'm getting my hopes up!  Hope and belief are two of the most powerful emotions in our arsenal.  We've got to use them to propel us towards success and happiness.  Must be sad to live in a "don't get your hopes up world."  My heart goes out to her.

# 5 You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Way to think positively folks.  Much better to stand at a crossroads and let life pass you by.  Again we go back to risk taking.  We certainly seem to be a risk averse society.  It's a wonder that we are evolving at all!  A much better way to look at a difficult decision is to realize that to move forward, one way or another, you are going to have to make a choice.  Not making a choice is going to allow life to drag you along in its current instead of you dictating your direction.  Even if you make a bad choice, you have at least taken a stand, and that is a far more powerful position to be in spiritually, than to be standing still and allowing yourself to be powerless.

#4 You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Whoever said that has never seen me manifest change!  I can take a really crappy situation and turn it into an empowering and fulfilling experience, all with the use of my mind.  The inventor of this dumb saying clearly never met Erma Bombeck of the famous saying "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade."  Just because something looks less than promising, there's no need to give up on it.  There has to be something good you can make out of any bad situation.  So far the worst thing that has ever happened to me was the death of my husband 13 years ago.  Trust me, that sucked beyond belief. Yet, as I realized that I had lost my love, my home, my car and my money, I decided to declare the situation a "do-over" opportunity from God.  How often have you ever wished for a clean slate?  Well, I certainly had one.  So I set about reinventing myself from the inside out, and today I am in a much better place in every way than I was before that horrible tragedy.  That was certainly a sow's ear moment in my life, but I now have a gorgeous silk purse of a  life to show for it.

#3 Men make plans and God laughs.

This person who first said this must have been really bitter.  As if God would want anything for you except the best.  Yes, sometimes our plans don't work out the way we expect them to, but that isn't because God is out to get you, or because the Universe is against you.  What does it mean?  Ah, that's for you to figure out.  I believe that everything happens for a reason.  Often we just can't understand the why of an event and that's where faith comes in.  When something doesn't go my way, I take a deep breath and remind myself to have faith.  God's delays are not his denials and there are more forces at work in the universe than we can ever comprehend.  Let go and know that, even though you may never fully understand why things happen the way they do, there is a loving force out there watching out for you.

#2 A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Again with the fowl?  Well at least it isn't chickens this time.  Once again we are talking about avoiding risk.  The idea here is that you've already got one bird in your hand,  and if you attempt to get the two that are in the bush you could drop the one bird you have, and end up with nothing at all.  On the other hand (pardon the pun), you could end up with three birds!  You won't know until you try, right?  You could stay in the unfulfilling relationship, job or other situation because at least it is something, or you could take a chance and reach out for something even more.  Sure you might end up with nothing except a damned good story to tell, but sometimes a damn good story is all you really needed. Damned good stories usually mean you gained some damned good experience!  (By the way, I can' t help but wonder if these are the same two birds from the "killing two birds with one stone" saying. If so, you had better go rescue them right away!)

And… #1 Look before you leap.

Now this one seems like a very logical and prudent thing to do.  It is probably safe not to go jumping into something without truly knowing what you are getting into.  Well here's the problem.  Until you are in something you will never truly know the entire reality of what it is like to be there.  Too often, people get stuck in the paralysis of analysis, while they try desperately to figure out all of the permutations of what life could be like after the leap.  They analyze and study and study and analyze, and they never end up making the leap because they just can't be 100% sure what they are getting themselves into.   Some of the best experiences I have ever had were because I leaped without really taking a hard look.  I kind of peered over the edge and said "hmm…not sure what's on the other side, but what the hell" and off I went.    I found one of my very best friends by agreeing to go to Vegas with a co-worker that I hardly knew.  We laugh about that all the time now.  It really made no sense for us to decide to go away together, but we did and we've been like sisters ever since.  If we had thought that one through, we probably could have come up with tons of reasons not to do it.  I'm glad we are both leapers!  I also found my hubby Bill because I leaped into online dating after hearing another co-worker talk about it.  Thirteen dates later I was in love.  On Sunday it will be 10 years since that first date with Bill, and I am glad we both took that leap of faith.

So there you have them.  Melissa's Top 10 Most Dangerous Sayings Ever.  If you hear yourself or any of your friends utter these phrases, be sure to put a stop to it.  Just because it's old, doesn't mean it's true folks!  If you can think of any dangerous sayings I missed be sure to share with us in the comments