, if you like).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Laugh Before Breakfast, Cry Before Supper<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
One morning during my trip back to the UK, I woke up feeling full of energy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI was singing and laughing with my mum.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd she said, \u201cLaugh before breakfast, cry before dinner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nI replied, \u201cIs that a saying? Wow, that\u2019s depressing\u2026\u201d \ud83e\udd23<\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019d never heard it before, so I looked it up\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAnd I discovered a whole series of similar sayings:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n- Laugh before breakfast, cry before supper<\/span><\/li>\n
- Sing before breakfast, cry before supper<\/span><\/li>\n
- Laugh before seven, cry before eleven<\/span><\/li>\n
- He who laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday<\/span><\/li>\n
- Rejoice today and repent tomorrow<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Wow, what sort of messages are we sending to ourselves when we unconsciously use these kinds of phrases?<\/span><\/p>\nI started to think about other common English phrases.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHere are 3 you might know.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
1. Don\u2019t count your chickens before they\u2019re hatched<\/b><\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n
This means our eggs aren\u2019t necessarily all going to become chickens.<\/span><\/p>\nIt discourages us from looking forward to things.<\/span><\/p>\nPeople sometimes say it\u2019s best not to get your hopes up because you might be disappointed.<\/span><\/p>\nBut then we miss out on the exciting feeling of anticipation.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd I don\u2019t know about you, but when I tell myself, \u201cThis is going to be GREAT!\u201d it usually is.<\/span><\/p>\nOn the other hand, if I say, \u201cThis is going to be terrible\u201d (yes, I have had those times), then it usually is.<\/span><\/p>\nEven if things don\u2019t turn out as we\u2019d hoped, we always have a choice about how we respond.<\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s normal to feel some disappointment, but then we can choose to say, \u201cOh, well, that didn\u2019t go the way I wanted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThis means we can enjoy looking forward to something without being attached to it actually happening.<\/span><\/p>\nSo we could change Don\u2019t count your chickens before they\u2019re hatched<\/b> to\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cCount your eggs and enjoy imagining your chickens.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
<\/i><\/b>Now here\u2019s another one\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2. Curiosity killed the cat<\/b><\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n
This suggests that a cat got curious about something and was killed as a result.<\/span><\/p>\nIt discourages us from being curious about new things.<\/span><\/p>\nBut curiosity is a wonderful quality for personal and professional growth. We get curious and we learn more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSo we could change <\/span>Curiosity killed the cat<\/b> to\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cCuriosity made the cat\u2019s life more interesting\u201d<\/i><\/b> or maybe <\/span>\u201cCowardice kept the cat stuck.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
3. Once bitten, twice shy<\/b><\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n
One of our hamsters\u2014Manuel\u2014used to bite when you held him.<\/span><\/p>\nNaturally, most children wouldn\u2019t want to hold a hamster like that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBut Keri quickly found a solution: she wore gloves!<\/span><\/p>\nThe phrase \u201cOnce bitten, twice shy\u201d discourages us from doing something again after a bad experience.<\/span><\/p>\nBut bad experiences are a part of the learning process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nFor example, have you ever given a presentation and your mind went blank?<\/span><\/p>\n(BTW, that\u2019s totally normal and we cover why and how to deal with it in my presentation skills programs.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nThe thing is that when you give another presentation and keep practicing (especially with the right guidance), you get better.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSo we could change <\/span>Once bitten, twice shy<\/b> to\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cOnce bitten, twice get better.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
I asked my mum if we had any positive phrases that family members used.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Great grandma\u2019s words of wisdom<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
Mum said, my great grandmother used to say,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\u201cGood, better, best.
<\/span>Never let it rest
<\/span>Until your good is better
<\/span>And your better best.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nI love the idea that this is about personal growth. We can always improve.<\/span><\/p>\nWhen they first come to me, many of my Japanese clients say, \u201cI\u2019m not good at English.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI encourage them to choose a different story:
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m getting better at English every time I practice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s amazing how much better they feel and the results they get when they start being careful about their thoughts and words (in Japanese as well as in English).<\/span><\/p>\nAnd I\u2019m looking forward to more personal and professional growth for myself in 2026\u2014as well as helping superstars like you to step up and surprise yourselves with what you can do and who you can be!<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The other day, I was reminded of a Sasuga! Podcast episode that I recorded during hotel quarantine back in January 2022 after visiting my parents in the UK for Christmas! I shared some interesting English phrases. And they serve as a gentle reminder to choose our thoughts and words carefully because they have a significant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,55,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-communication","category-personal-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17922"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17971,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17922\/revisions\/17971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}