Absolutely! Peace unto you!

I appreciate the concern, but talking things out is how we can grow and identify truths in this world. People can use reddit however they feel so long as it is with community guidelines. These discussions might not be for you, or you might eye-roll about them, but people want to share and exchange thoughts and opinions. That is why there is a comment section for posts.

Things are that important sometimes. Using your advice of “be excellent to each other” is why I commented in the first comment; I believe that there was bad advice/misinformation be circulated around that could be potentially harmful to that idea of “be excellent to each other”. My initial concern was other people’s well being. I know you mean well, but gatekeeping other people’s reddit experience isn’t really the W you think it is. I am allowed to be as transparent and argumentative in my discussions as I want to be.

So this is where we have to use the contextual meaning, and peel away from what is textual here.

1. The advice was at the “end” of the class. So maybe it could have been about yoga poses, but as a send away it seems very much like “go off and use my wisdom in the real world!” We all interpret things differently. But GOOD advice is very specific. If someone can misinterpret something so easily, it is inherently a bad attempt at communication, and thus, bad advice.

2. The tone of the advice was very harsh and aggressive. This is suggested by the use of the world “fucking” at the end of it. Now, I don’t claim to be a yogi, but from my limited knowledge, shanti, or inner peace, is kind of one of the goals of practicing yoga. I find a heavy conflict between achieving shanti and having an inner dialogue telling me “fucking” do things. Maybe I don’t fully understand the art so I, once again, can be wrong here.

3. If the advice was limited to just the first sentence then this would actually be a very positive and insightful message. It retains the advice to just dealing with failure. The addition of the second sentence derails the advice into a call for narcissism and individual selfishness, a very not Yoga principle. Yoga isn’t “think of yourself first/only”, Yoga teaches respect and consideration for others through namaste.

4. Words have meaning. Deliberate meaning. The length of our speech does not correlate with the heaviness of emotion it evokes. There is a call on your phone. You pick it up… “Mom died”… two words, three lines, an entire manuscript. Words, and the meanings those words convey can be very powerful. Never doubt that being of their length.

5. Lastly, Yoga is an art form, and art always contains a deeper meaning. I don’t know how many yogis you know, but many of them explore the teachings of it to find extrapolations of Yogas meaning into their life (and more than just posing). This phrase said by a yogi at the end of creating/performing their art. Look at the subreddit this was posted in; this is very intentionally meant to be about more than just Yoga.

So not only is this bad advice generally, but even in the context of Yoga it is bad advice. Namaste!

So this is where we have to use the contextual meaning, and peel away from what is textual here. At least if we want to figure out how deep it could be.

1. The advice was at the “end” of the class. So maybe it could have been about yoga poses, but as a send away it seems very much like “go off and use my wisdom in the real world!” We all interpret things differently. But GOOD advice is very specific. If someone can misinterpret something so easily, it is inherently a bad attempt at communication, and thus, bad advice.

2. The tone of the advice was very harsh and aggressive. This is suggested by the use of the world “fucking” at the end of it. Now, I don’t claim to be a yogi, but from my limited knowledge, shanti, or inner peace, is kind of one of the goals of practicing yoga. I find a heavy conflict between achieving shanti and having an inner dialogue telling me “fucking” do things. Maybe I don’t fully understand the art so I, once again, can be wrong here.

3. If the advice was limited to just the first sentence then this would actually be a very positive and insightful message. It retains the advice to just dealing with failure. The addition of the second sentence derails the advice into a call for narcissism and individual selfishness, a very not Yoga principle. Yoga isn’t “think of yourself first/only”, Yoga teaches respect and consideration for others through namaste.

4. Words have meaning. Deliberate meaning. The length of our speech does not correlate with the heaviness of emotion it evokes. There is a call on your phone. You pick it up… “Mom died”… two words, three lines, an entire manuscript. Words, and the meanings of those words can be very powerful. Never doubt words strength based of their length.

5. Lastly, Yoga is an art form, and art always contains a deeper meaning. I don’t know how many yogis you know, but many of them explore the teachings of it to find extrapolations of Yogas meaning into their life (and more than just posing). This phrase said by a yogi at the end of creating/performing their art. Look at the subreddit this was posted in; this is very intentionally meant to be about more than just Yoga.

So not only is this bad advice generally, but even in the context of Yoga it is bad advice. Namaste!

So this is where we have to use the contextual meaning, and peel away from what is textual here.

1. The advice was at the “end” of the class. So maybe it could have been about yoga poses, but as a send away it seems very much like “go off and use my wisdom in the real world!” We all interpret things differently. But GOOD advice is very specific. If someone can misinterpret something so easily, it is inherently a bad attempt at communication, and thus, bad advice.

2. The tone of the advice was very harsh and aggressive. This is suggested by the use of the world “fucking” at the end of it. Now, I don’t claim to be a yogi, but from my limited knowledge, shanti, or inner peace, is kind of one of the goals of practicing yoga. I find a heavy conflict between achieving shanti and having an inner dialogue telling me “fucking” do things. Maybe I don’t fully understand the art so I, once again, can be wrong here.

3. If the advice was limited to just the first sentence then this would actually be a very positive and insightful message. It retains the advice to just dealing with failure. The addition of the second sentence derails the advice into a call for narcissism and individual selfishness, a very not Yoga principle. Yoga isn’t “think of yourself first/only”, Yoga teaches respect and consideration for others through namaste.

4. Words have meaning. Deliberate meaning. The length of our speech does not correlate with the heaviness of emotion it evokes. There is a call on your phone. You pick it up… “Mom died”… two words, three lines, an entire manuscript. Words, and the meanings those words convey can be very powerful. Never doubt that being of their length.

5. Lastly, Yoga is an art form, and art always contains a deeper meaning. I don’t know how many yogis you know, but many of them explore the teachings of it to find extrapolations of Yogas meaning into their life (and more than just posing). This phrase said by a yogi at the end of creating/performing their art. Look at the subreddit this was posted in; this is very intentionally meant to be about more than just Yoga.

So not only is this bad advice generally, but even in the context of Yoga it is bad advice. Namaste!

I apologize for coming off as having a hostile take. Maybe you (and me) interpret this as sage advice, but neither you nor I can speak on behalf of every interpretation this quote has for people. I am merely trying to safeguard the absolutist pull from this quote.

As per my third paragraph in my original comment, I do concede that there is value to be had in this line of thinking.

I think my criticism is fair, if not entirely practical. I am not claiming there is an epidemic of people believing these quotes. I am just making a stated argument that life contains more nuances than a 3 sentence quote can solve is all.

You might not take it as that deep, nor do I. But neither of us can speak for everyone. There likely exists people who do take it to that level of seriousness. I speak out for their benefit, not for you or me.

I know. And respectively I don’t think people take these things that literally.

I do feel that these kinds of simplified encouragements water-down the nuances of the world for some people. I know people (maybe you do too) who go through life with a “Put myself first” mentality and I would argue strongly against that. They might use stupid little three lines like this as a component of many justifications for that mentality.

I am not daft haha. I appreciate your specificity though

Thank you. I get very fed up with the entirety of “toxic positivity” and self-help promoting that people need to exist in a vacuum only containing themselves. It completely dismisses the reality that you will be involving with people. Instead of teaching people how to associate and cope with other human beings, these movements simply write off that you should just narcissistically proceed with your life.

It is so bad, and people listen to it. It ultimately affects people and I just want to help these people who suffer realize that the real world involves learning to deal with people.

I don’t think it is a hot take. I really just don’t like this bad advice. Maybe I am bias’d or something, idk.

This is bad advice. What other people think of you is important.

If you are an asshole who steamrolls people, how could you know that you are being inconsiderate if you lack self awareness? I hate this toxic positivity movement pushing the idea that “being self-centered” is the key to happiness and success. It is flat out wrong and completely unfulfilling as a philosophy about life. You should give a shit about people, and by extension, how they look at you. Social pressures are fine in certain places, like encouraging people to shower, or being respectful to a stranger. Going through life with the mentality of “Fuck everyone else and what they think, I am looking out for #1” is just bad advice.

Also, everyone fails all the time; failure isn’t always a big deal. Sometimes it is, but the last thing it should be about is the optics of your failure.