“A tool is a bridge between what you realize the problem is and the cause of the problem to over here, actually gaining at least some control over the symptom. It all has to do with possibility. And not a bullshit definition of possibility. Possibility means you feel yourself reacting differently. It sounds, trite, but it’s actually the truth.”
Phil Stutz, Stutz
“In traditional therapy, you’re paying this person, and you save all of your problems for them, and they just listen, and your friends, who are idiots, give you advice. Unsolicited. And you want your friends just to listen. And you want your therapist to give you advice.”
Jonah Hill, Stutz
“A tool is something that can change your state, your inner state, immediately, in real time. It takes an experience that’s normally unpleasant, then it turns it into an opportunity. Tools change your mood and then just give you a sense of hope that won’t be your mood forever.”
Phil Stutz, Stutz
“Taking turns leading in different situations helps each individual express their power and their talents. Partners normally have different strengths so it makes sense that one person would not be in control in all situations. Sharing power is critical to creating a harmonious environment and building trust. Being able to live in your power creates the sense of freedom that we all need to truly feel at home.”
Yung Pueblo
“We can never handwrite the same message twice. Every crease and every accidental fold of paper serves as the most unique canvas for our words. The ink filling our inscriptions will never behave exactly the same way in a single letter written twice. The way we hold our pen may change, even if ever so slightly, from one word to the next. Each and every squiggly line is one of a kind and our longhand note may never really be replicated. This unwritten poetry that resides between the lines of our messages enhances our gift of words. If we want to make someone feel special, is there a better way than to offer them something only they will ever have?”
Kinga Lewandowska, Intelligent Change Blog
“Everything in this world blooms, grows, and returns to its roots. Returning to one’s roots means becoming united with nature; becoming united with nature involves eternity. The destruction of your body holds no danger in itself.”
Lao-Tzu, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 354)
“When you reach the peak of it all—whatever that may be for you—you will look back and know that every step was worth it. More than anything, you will be overwhelmingly grateful for the pain that led you to begin your journey, because really, it wasn’t trying to hurt you as much as it was trying to show you that something was wrong. That something was the risk of your potential remaining untapped, your life spent with the wrong people, doing the wrong things, and wondering why you never felt quite right. You life is just beginning.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 239)
“You cannot avoid all pain, but you can absolutely avoid a lot of suffering by staying focused on your internal growth.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 235)
“Happiness is your natural state. That means you will return to it on your own if you allow the other feelings you want to experience to come up, be felt, be processed, and not resisted. The less you resist your unhappiness, the happier you will be. It is often just trying too hard to feel one certain way that sets us up for failure.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 231)
“The time that you’re alive is the only thing you truly possess, and you can give it away. You can give it away by working for other people—they own your time and you can be miserable. You can give it away by reaching for external pleasures and distractions—spending the time that you have as a slave to different passions and different obsessions. Or you can make the time that you’re alive your own.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 426)
“In a competition between someone who knows the most and someone who is willing to learn the most, the edge usually goes to the curious and empathic professional, not the one who is simply protecting what’s already known.”
Seth Godin, Blog
“The greatest gift that life will hand you is discomfort. Discomfort is not trying to punish you! It is just trying to show you where you are capable of more, deserving of better, able to change, or meant for greater than you have right now. In almost every case, it is simply informing you that there is more out there for you, and it is pushing you to go pursue it.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 229)
“Triggers are not random; they are showing you where you are either most wounded or primed for growth. If we can see these triggers as signals that are trying to help us put our attention toward some part of our lives that needs healing, health, and progress, we can begin to see them as helpful instead of hurtful.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 228)
“The only time you’re going to really hold onto the past is when you haven’t fully learned from the past. When you have, you can apply those lessons to the present moment and create what you wanted to experience then.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 226)
“You are not supposed to feel happy all of the time. Trying to feel happy all of the time is not the solution; it’s the problem.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 225)
“Social media has likened us all to mini-celebrities in our own circles: We become convinced that everyone around us is disproportionately concerned with the minutiae of our lives. In a number of decades, you will be gone. Your home will be sold to a new family. Your job will be taken by someone else. Your kids will be adults. Your work will be done. This isn’t supposed to depress you; it is supposed to liberate you.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 221)
“For it’s always that way with the sacred value of life. We forget it as long as it belongs to us, and give it as little attention during the unconcerned hours of our life as we do the stars in the light of day. Darkness must fall before we are aware of the majesty of the stars above our heads.”
Stefan Zweig, via The Daily Laws (Page 423)
“It only takes five minutes to break the cycle. Five minutes of exercise and you are back on the path. Five minutes of writing and the manuscript is moving forward again. Five minutes of conversation and the relationship is restored. It doesn’t take much to feel good again.”
James Clear, Blog
“More money does not solve money problems. Different relationships do not solve relationship problems. New work does not solve work problems. Your future life will not solve your life problems. This is because money does not make you good with money. Love does not make you love yourself. Relationships don’t make you good at relationships. Work doesn’t make you good at your job or capable of work/life balance. Problems don’t inherently make you a stronger person unless you change and adapt. The variable is you.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 194)
“To do your inner work means to evaluate why something triggered you, why something is upsetting you, what your life is trying to show you, and the ways you could grow from these experiences. Truly powerful people absorb what has happened to them and sort of metabolize it. They use it as an opportunity to learn, to develop themselves. This type of inner mental and emotional work is non-negotiable if you want to be truly powerful.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 187)