I love this saying, I am not sure where I first heard it, but I love simple sayings that can be applied across many areas of life. For me they morph and take on their own meanings, I use them as reminders to stay focused on what I want my life and my energy to be spent on.
This is one of my favorites:
Take What You Can Use and Leave The Rest Alone
This is what it means to me.
When receiving advice, take what you can use and leave the rest alone. To me, it means there is no need to argue, just consider the advice whether positive or negative, take the parts that apply and leave the rest alone. Don't dwell on negatives, make the needed changes and move forward.
When dishing up your plate: Take what you can eat and leave the rest alone. Meaning no need to horde it all or be greedy with the best things, take what you can use and leave the rest alone.
On SteemIt, I apply it to positive and negative people. I want to surround myself with those who can see the vision of the platform. I don't wish to ignore the negative, I want to consider what they say, and then focus on the positive again. I choose to be positive, it is a choice. I don't always "Feel" positive. I look for the positive and I leave the rest alone. (Not always, but it is my goal)
I don't just ignore the negative though, I consider if there is any reasonable thing I can do about a bad situation. If there is, I do it and then I try to move forward. Sometimes it takes me a little time to get my mood in order or to shake off a negative experience, but my goal is to return to focusing on the good and leave the rest alone.
I don't lose sleep over Haejin or the trending page because I can only use my own stake to work on issues. I think that keeping the site as clean as possible is part of my responsibility and I rest well, because I use my stake to handle my part of the responsibility. I upvote and downvote posts every day. That is the extent of my control over the situation. If I feel an issue is really important I will try to use my voice to influence the situation as well. After that the best thing I can do is contribute in a positive way, engage with others and just keep doing what I do.
Some people are wired differently than I am and when they see a problem they have a relentless focus on it and feel it is important to speak out, fight, etc. Maybe we evolved or were designed that way on purpose. I don't know for sure, for now I am leaving the negative alone.
Also, thank you to the witnesses and those who worked on solving Steem's blockchain issues last night and I am happy we are up and rolling again today!
@whatsup