When Leonardo da Vinci died, the amazing all-things Renaissance man who changed the world forever as an engineer, a scientist, an artist, a sculptor, an architect, a chef, and a bazillion other things — his final words amounted to the effect of, “Forgive me for not having accomplished everything I set out to do.”
Let us learn a bit from this super achiever!
According to, the book, “How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day,” by Michael J. Gelb, da Vinci …
- Was never without pen and notepad to log his fancies.
- Kept diaries — many, many of them!
- Wrote affirmations.
Two da Vinci affirmations:
“Obstacles do not bend me.”
“I never tire of being useful.”
Simply looking at affirmations use to rile me. My inner cynic rankled, “Nope, no you don’t!”
But my response changed after a friend mentioned how he works at truly feeling affirmations. Lo and behold, that made all the difference! I’m still often my own worst enemy — but stop-affirm-feel often turns things around. “I want, I want, I want it now and I’ll never have it,” hushes a bit …
How about you? What works and doesn’t work for you?
Happiness Between Tails by da-AL 
[…] Da Vinci, and artists before and after them have explored it — the question of where begins and ends the […]
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[…] Da Vinci, and artists before and after them have explored it — the question of where begins and ends the […]
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Memorable character of his time and for us we associate him with the marvel of the Mona Lisa.
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glad you enjoyed it, History — I encourage all to take a look at your post about him: https://historyourevolution.wordpress.com/2018/03/13/leonardo-da-vinci/
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I follow Da Vinci’s “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” maxim and Socrates’s “I know that I don’t know anything”, always curious and hungry for knowledge, always with pen and paper, surrounded by all kinds of people without judgment… Enjoying the simple things in life. That’s where the greatness is.
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DaVinci was an amazing man indeed!
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Interesting perspective. On one hand, if I expect too much of myself (re goals and ‘being useful’), I can get discouraged. BUT daily affirmations are a great idea to spur me on, believe in myself, and not feel as if I haven’t accomplished something ‘useful’ every day. “I CAN write 1,000 words a day.” ? Perhaps, “I CAN write every day!” is the better. 🙂
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What a great way to think of it 😀
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This too shall pass…
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😀
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