
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?
Sometime thinking about what will happen if i DON’T do something. Motivates me – such as if I don’t exercise then I’ll feel terrible and go back to where I was before I started. And sometimes I try to think about what if I do something – what will happen, such as when I eat that Canoli, what will happen. LOL it works for me!
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I love that you give yourself multiple ways to solve a problem. When it comes to eating, it helps me to focus on what I can eat rather than what I can’t.
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[…] via Magic: Leonardo da Vinci Wrotes it Down and Affirmed it by da-AL — Happiness Between Tails by da-A… […]
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Thanks much for reblogging 😀
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woops thanks da-AL for reminding me, and it also reminds me that he was gay so that will be one of my next posts !
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😀❤️😀❤️😀❤️
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😀❤️😀❤️😀❤️
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I am a very positive person and I always try to do the best I can in everything I do, that’s how I get what I want.
But I am too kind so I am not as successful as I could be…
Leonardo da Vinci was a genius thank you da
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I agree roijoyeux. It’s hard sometimes to find balance.
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nice post.
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😀
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This is a really fascinating look into the life of a person born into an uncertain station who made the very best of his opportunities and is still remembered as one of the most brilliant and creative people of all time. As for the affirmations – I suspect he wrote them to bolster his view that he could achieve even when others told him he couldn’t. Great post, Daal.
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Perfect insights. Glad you enjoyed 😀
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I’d read that da Vinci kept journals, written in an elaborate shorthand code using a mirror (!) but I didn’t know about these affirmations. That sounds very interesting, and I’m glad you wrote about the resistance from your inner cynic, because I’m inclined that way myself, so thank you!
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Great minds think alike, Robert 😀
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Affirmations of things you can are good I think!
Is that the question by the way 😊
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😀
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For me the biggest lesson I learned, that it’s about being true to yourself, Focus on the positives, but accept your limitations too.
Wonderful post, dear Daal. XxX
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Good advice. Glad you enjoyed this, Patty 😀
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As always 😉
Hope all is ok with you, my dear busy friend?
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Fortunately yes, sweet Patty. Hope same for you 😀❤️
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I am okidoki too 🙂 Next week holiday in Spain, counting down the days till departure, haha
Sleep well! Big hug, XxX
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😀😀😀
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Genius of his time.
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