Years ago I was given a T-shirt from my mother after her visit to the USA and the Smokey Mountains.
I’ve always loved the beautiful drawing on the front of a bear striding purposefully along a river but I’d never taken in the inscription fully until yesterday .
It resonates with me today more than ever; it has me smiling.
‘Live large
Climb beyond your limitations
When life get hairy, grin and bear it
Eat well
Live with the seasons
Take a good, long nap
Look after your honey!’
The T-shirt is produced by www.YourTrueNature.com
Annika Perry 
Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner.
Many thanks for the reblog.😀
Isn’t it funny how long you can look at something and totally not see or pay attention past a certain part… then later you look back and get something totally new out of it! Great post!
Absolutely, so weird that I hadn’t really noticed it before. My only excuse is that I was the T-shirt and not really visible to me. I know, pretty lame. I did notice it at a perfect time though when it resonated with me and so many others too.
You know they say when the Spanish landed in South American the natives could not see the ships. They thought they were clouds and waves. So missing a t-shirt is an easy forgive! LOL If you see conquistadors then haler!
I’ve never heard that before – amazing but I can imagine it’s true. I feel much better about missing something so obvious now! Just don’t put me on look out duty – I’d be useless!😀
See it could be worse! You could have missed that! LOL Have a great week! Great post!
Very amusing but excellent words of advice simply put.
Definitely very cute and funny, but the more I looked at it the more it became relevant for me – particularly the third line at the moment!
Oh dear hope life’s not too hairy Annika!!!
It was rather hairy for a while, Marje as I suffered from two slipped discs in my back and I was in dreadful pain and virtually immobile. Slowly recovering…yeah!😀 Thank you for your concern.
That sounds nasty Annika, glad you’re on the mend. 🙂
What’s important about life summed up in the way a bear lives it. Pretty nice words of advice. :O)
And we thought they were just thinking about their next dinner!😀 Good words to live by and the suggestion about taking a good long nap is more and more tempting on this windy wet Sunday afternoon. Have a lovely day.
}o)
sweet shirt
memory 🙂
Wise bear
Good pupil. 😀
Just as I was about to remark that this is the most sensible bear I’ve met in some time, I read your slipped discs comment! 😦 😦 Life! Never predictable. Hope you improve rapidly, Annika.
Thank you so much for your kind comment, Jo. Today is the first day I feel alive – actually managed to walk a few hundred yards and can smile and laugh again. 😀 Still a long way before I can do my long daily walks but I’m happy for any improvement! Last Sunday was definitely a low point but these wise bear words seriously helped, especially the bad pun of ‘when life gets hairy, grin and bear it’!
The blogging community can be a great ‘pick me up’, can’t it? Glad it helped in any way, Annika, and that you’re starting to recover. 🙂
Love it, Annika!! I hope you had/having a great vacation 🙂
Thank you, Karin. Unfortunately I suffered two slipped discs in my back late last week and am in terrible pain and barely able to get around the house. I should be on the plane as I write, we were due to leave this afternoon, but I can physically not travel – walking, sitting and so much pain. I’m not a happy bunny…😒 Lovely to hear from you!
OH-NO!! So sorry to hear that. Thinking of you and hoping for a very speedy recovery!
Love this! Great advice, and thanks for the link to the site–they’ve got a lot of good advice from the natural world. I like the wolf one: Be at home in nature. 🙂
So glad you liked this, Julie! On top of not really taking in the saying before, I’d never noticed the website link written in small letters underneath. I thought it might be gone after so many years so it was a joy to see that it seems to have expanded, covering so many products and lots of wise and wonderful sayings. The wolf one is lovely – don’t you just feel so much better outdoors amongst nature? I know I do.
I have that on a bookmark… along with bookmarks with advice from squirrels, etc. All fun, and a bit wise. 🙂 –Curt
Yes, I saw their bookmarks when checking out the website – if you can mix the fun with the wise I think you’re onto a winner. This T-shirt is years old and the company is still going strong, not surprisingly. Thank you for your comment, Curt and it’s been fun visiting your blog – amazing travels and photographs – definitely ‘living large’.
Thanks for the visit Annika… and for the follow! Glad you are enjoying the blog— and having fun with it. For the most part, that is why I write it. I do slip in an occasional serious thought. –Curt
Curt, many thanks for your visit and follow too!😀 I think if the blog is true to who you are it will always be interesting, fun & thoughtful. In the beginning mine was going to only focus on writing a novel but I quickly realised this would be boring for any readers as well as myself, so adapted it.
I started out with the idea of building possible readership for my book as well, Annika, and quickly got caught up in the fun of the whole experience, and the new friends I have made. –Curt
Oh those are wonderful. ‘Look after your honey’–might be my favorite.
That group does ‘advice’ lists from all sorts of feral animals. I like the buffalo–‘Have a tough hide’. That sure serves me well.
They’re great, I agree. Having a tough hide in this industry would be great – not sure I’ve got to that yet! However, I like the sea lion one as well, which finishes with, ‘Have A Playful Spirit/ Make A Splash!’ Not bad if one can achieve that!
A very wise bear. The honey and nap are good advice for me today. Thank you.
Wishing you a peaceful day with your honey and a long restful nap! 😀 Thank you for your comment, Johanna.
Love it! ❤ That's one smart bear Annika! Rules to live and write by…thank you for sharing this, I'm smiling so much I can hardly 'bear' it…sorry, just had to! 🙂
Hehe…😀😃 Pun away! I’m surprised there weren’t more, Sherri! Once I finally saw the words and took them in I just wanted to share them as I would sure they would resonate with so many. There are so many other ones on the website…ahh….
🙂
Talking about bears and honey, gives me an excuse to quote. Pooh has escaped the flood… “there was Pooh, sitting on his branch, dangling his legs, and there, beside him were ten pots of honey.
Two days later, there was Pooh, sitting on his branch, dangling his legs, and there, beside him, were four pots of honey.
Three days later, there was Pooh, sitting on his branch, dangling his legs, and there, beside him were two pots of honey
Four days later, there was Pooh…..” Now that’s taking care of your honey.
Yes, Peter that was one bear who knew how to look after his honey – although it often got him into trouble if I remember rightly!😀
That sounds like beary good advice to me. Thank you for sharing it.
😀Hehe – I like that, Russ. ‘beary good advice’ – I’m trying to follow it, although don’t know when to fit in the long naps!
Very good advise as only a bear could say… Thank you, Annika
Glad you liked it, JC…so simple but full of wisdom. 😀
Just love it, Annika! Smiling… 🙂
Bette, I know…brief but perfect! So glad you’re smiling away. 😀 Hope you’re having a lovely day.
That is one wise Bear. “Live large, climb beyond your limitations”.
I think that Bear looks a bit sad and in need of a Valentine hug.
🙂
I know, Mirja, he does look a bit lonely. You go first and give him a hug! I’ll be just behind you…a few hundred metres behind! A very wise message and I’m sort of kicking myself that I hadn’t really taken it until now!
I love it, Annika! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked it, Jill! 😀I suppose I’ve sort of been sharing it for years whilst wearing the T-shirt but never seeing the message myself. Strange.
So cute, Annika. Great advice from a bear. Happy ❤ Day.
Wisdom comes from the oddest places, eh? Hope you’re having a very special day, Diana and being spoilt.
Mmmmm. A nap….. 🙂
Jessica, not just a nap, but a long nap…months in the case of bears I imagine!😃
Sign me up! 🙂
I like the advice about a nap.
Hmm…I see the nap has hit a spot here on blogland – reckon we all should work a bit less and nap a bit more!
All good advice from Mom and Bear. What more could one want?
I am sending some Bear hugs to cheer your day.
It does seem to sum up everything necessary – I can at least tick some of the lines! Wishing you a very special day too, Barbara. ❤️
Very good advice if you ask me – especially the bit about Eat Well!
Love the picture of the grizzly, but I think that’s as close as I want to get to one.
Mike
Oh, Mike but he’s so cute…don’t you want to give him one big hug?! As for eating well, does chocolates count??
When life gets hairy, grin and bear it – love that advice. Reach out and grab the gold ring as you ride the carousel of life!
I love that, Mary Ann – ‘carousel of life’ – how true! So easy to shy away, to settle for the safer life but daring to rise to a challenge is quite a thrill! I think I’m doing a bit of both which seems to work quite well.
You will be pleased as punch with the end results too! Go for it and challenge yourself. It is a thrilling process and also one full of hard work.
I’m astonished that so many words can be fitted onto a t-shirt.
I shall look after my honey – though I read lab analyses recently which showed that some jars marked honey contained other things as well – and two of them no honey at all.
Actually, the words fit very well and only take up a portion of the T-shirt, there are even little bear prints between the words! I was going to take a photo of it but it’s so washed out and faded so it would have looked rubbish. My mind boggles at the jars of honey containing no honey whatsoever!! What was in them??
Great advice
Isn’t it just, Maja! Short and sweet – words to live by.😀