What are you favorite New Age clichés?

May 6, 2011 7:43 AM

What are you favorite New Age clichés? I'm compiling a list of new age cliches, please contribute.

Here's a start: "It is what it is." "It's all good."

posted by markcmyers to writing & language (54 answers total)

does "go for it" count?
posted by Jon_Evil at 7:43 AM on May 6, 2011

You might want to be more specific about what you're looking for. This question seems overly broad to me.
posted by empath at 7:45 AM on May 6, 2011

I think this is chatfilter, but I will say I always liked the idea of having "it is what it is" on a tombstone.
posted by sweetkid at 7:50 AM on May 6, 2011

Wherever you go, there you are.
posted by the essence of class and fanciness at 7:51 AM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

So far these are all just hippie mantras. Is that what you're going for?
posted by norm at 7:52 AM on May 6, 2011

Live in the moment.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:36 AM on May 6, 2011

Hippie mantras would probably do it.
posted by markcmyers at 8:38 AM on May 6, 2011

That person "just isn't centered."
posted by Victorvacendak at 8:44 AM on May 6, 2011

Don't sweat the small stuff...It's all small stuff.

Just do it.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:44 AM on May 6, 2011

Keep on keepin' on.
posted by illenion at 8:45 AM on May 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

"Everything happens for a reason."

(Ugh.)
posted by AngerBoy at 8:47 AM on May 6, 2011 [7 favorites]

"It's not the destination, it's the journey."
posted by pluckysparrow at 8:53 AM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Lululemon manifesto has some real doozies.
posted by Metroid Baby at 8:55 AM on May 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

"Follow your bliss."
posted by Seamus at 9:08 AM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ah, you beat me to it, Metroid Baby.
Also, anything that vaguely refers to "energy," and "vibrations," in pseudo-scientific terms.

I always hated "Just Breathe."
What's the alternative there, "Just Pass Out"?
posted by Kitty Stardust at 9:09 AM on May 6, 2011

"Discover your true self."
posted by perhapses at 9:20 AM on May 6, 2011

"It will all come together in the fullness of time."
posted by BostonTerrier at 9:28 AM on May 6, 2011

"Let it go."
posted by marimeko at 9:41 AM on May 6, 2011

You have to take care of yourself 1st
No one can make you feel bad without your consent
Live, Love, Laugh
posted by theora55 at 9:41 AM on May 6, 2011

oh, and
"the Universe will take care of it."

hah!
posted by BostonTerrier at 9:42 AM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

'Nurture yourself'.

Also, quoting Sting's 'If you love somebody, set them free'. Someone actually did this whilst dumping me once, and I think I went literally slackjawed.
posted by mippy at 9:42 AM on May 6, 2011 [4 favorites]

"Be here now."
posted by box at 9:46 AM on May 6, 2011

"Turn on, tune in, drop out."
posted by box at 9:48 AM on May 6, 2011

"Stay on the bus."
posted by box at 9:49 AM on May 6, 2011

"You're a lightworker."
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:09 AM on May 6, 2011

Calling people "old souls."

Like... as opposed to what?
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 10:10 AM on May 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

"Bring balance to your chakras."
posted by Senza Volto at 10:13 AM on May 6, 2011

"Be the ball."

If you want a film that cheerfully loathes those sorts of things, I recommend Disturbing Behavior.
posted by adipocere at 10:24 AM on May 6, 2011

"The universe wants you to have all you desire."
posted by jokeefe at 10:28 AM on May 6, 2011

"Everything is connected."
posted by jokeefe at 10:29 AM on May 6, 2011

"I really need to ground my energy."
posted by jokeefe at 10:30 AM on May 6, 2011

Anything to do with positive or negative vibrations. Bad energy or good energy. Oh, and "it's all an illusion". And of course the usual screamingly reductive notions about "karma".
posted by jokeefe at 10:32 AM on May 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

I spent way too much time as a teenager with West Coast hippies.
posted by jokeefe at 10:33 AM on May 6, 2011

[Hippy-centric]:
Get high on life.
Make love, not war.
Go with the flow.
Don't let the man keep you down.
I'm ok. You're ok.
posted by Glinn at 10:37 AM on May 6, 2011

AngerBoy: ""Everything happens for a reason."

(Ugh.)"

I don't think that's new-agey, it's more Christian/religious.
posted by radioamy at 10:38 AM on May 6, 2011

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - it's actually a (probably poorly translated) ancient Chinese saying....but then again aren't most "new age" philosophies actually bastardizations of non-Western cultures?
posted by radioamy at 10:41 AM on May 6, 2011

Holding space for someone or something.
posted by saffronwoman at 10:54 AM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

These are all quotes from the Twitter feed of one particular friend who's a filmmaker in LA:

"The magic is happening."
"life is a mystery"
"Peace & blessings"
posted by MsMolly at 11:10 AM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Nurture your inner child.
posted by monospace at 11:28 AM on May 6, 2011

Anything to do with mysterious "toxins" inside your body. As in, this. And this.
posted by media_itoku at 11:30 AM on May 6, 2011

Knock yourself out
posted by mippy at 12:19 PM on May 6, 2011

Keep calm and carry on.
posted by Idafolk at 12:48 PM on May 6, 2011

Cairns and rock circles/medicine wheels. I heard somewhere that the Sedona, Arizona forest service employs a full time ranger to dismantle them.

Raising children "without boundaries". Children actually need them. See also Indigo Children.

Urban myth or fact? Crystals inserted as rectal suppositories to maximize the absorption of their energies into the body. Closer to fact where I come from, I am sad to say.
posted by No Shmoobles at 1:06 PM on May 6, 2011

Harmonic Convergence
posted by a humble nudibranch at 1:14 PM on May 6, 2011

"What if they had a war... and nobody came?"
"Visualize world peace"/"Visualize whirled peas"
posted by flex at 2:38 PM on May 6, 2011

"There is no spoon."
posted by phoebus at 4:04 PM on May 6, 2011

The world will end in 2012. And calling women Goddesses.
posted by amycup at 5:08 PM on May 6, 2011

Do the Right Thing!

The Best is yet to come.

What goes around comes around.

Nude is not Lewd.

Happy as you choose to Be.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:17 AM on May 7, 2011

I choose love.
posted by markcmyers at 7:16 AM on May 7, 2011

You have to love yourself before anyone can love you.
posted by byanyothername at 8:54 PM on May 7, 2011

This is my truth. Tell me yours.
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:37 PM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh, and a reallllly annoying New Agey woman I once worked for used to say, when approving someone's idea or piece of news, "I'm at peace with that."

drove.me.batshit.
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:39 PM on May 8, 2011

I hear you.
posted by jokeefe at 9:15 PM on May 8, 2011

"He has a really positive energy about him."
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 1:25 PM on May 9, 2011