Skip to content

    “There is no commandment that says we have to be upset by the way other people treat us. The reason we are upset is because we have an emotional program that says, ‘If someone is nasty to me, I cannot be happy or feel good about myself.’ …Instead of reacting compulsively and retaliating, we could enjoy our freedom as human beings and refuse to be upset.”

    Thomas Keating, via Think Like A Monk (Page 28)

      “When you get stressed—what changes? Your breath. When you get angry—what changes? Your breath. We experience every emotion with the change of the breath. When you learn to navigate and manage your breath, you can navigate any situation in life.”

      Jay Shetty, Think Like A Monk (Page xviii)

        “Learning to observe and tolerate your physical reactions is a prerequisite for safely revisiting the past. If you cannot tolerate what you are feeling right now, opening up the past will only compound the misery and retraumatize you further.”

        Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps The Score (Page 211)

          “There are no outside causes of happiness or unhappiness; these things are just excuses. By and by we come to realize that it is something inside us that goes on changing, that has nothing to do with outside circumstances.”

          Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 25)

            “Consider the difference between saying ‘I am sad’ and ‘I feel sad.’ Similar as those two statements may seem, there is actually a profound difference between them. ‘I am sad’ is a kind of self-definition, and a very limiting one. ‘I feel sad’ suggests the ability to recognize and acknowledge a feeling, without being consumed by it. The focusing skills that are part of mindsight make it possible to see what is inside, to accept it, and in the accepting to let it go, and, finally, to transform it.”

            Daniel J. Siegel, Mindsight

              “Writing in a journal activates the narrator function of our minds. Studies have suggested that simply writing down our account of a challenging experience can lower physiological reactivity and increase our sense of well-being, even if we never show what we’ve written to anyone else.”

              Daniel J. Siegel, Mindsight

                “There is nothing manly in being angry, but a gentle calm is both more human and therefore more virile. It is the gentle who have strength, sinew, and courage—not the indignant and complaining. The closer to control of emotion, the closer to power. Anger is as much a sign of weakness as is pain.”

                Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 111)

                  “What we feel within us functions like an invitation for others to join us and feel the same, whether it is dense and heavy emotions or light and caring ones. It is easy to get angry when someone close to you is angry because the anger of the past that is already deep within your subconscious gets activated and pulled to the surface. This is why one of the biggest signs of maturity is being able to dwell in the mind state of your choice, even if others are putting negativity out into the space you are sharing.”

                  Yung Pueblo

                    “Your emotional backlog is like your email inbox. When you experience emotions, it’s as though you’re getting little messages from your body stacking up one at a time. If you don’t ever open them, you end up with 1,000+ notifications deep, totally overlooking crucial information and important insights that you need to move your life forward.”

                    Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 158)

                      “If you want to master your life, you have to learn to organize your feelings. By becoming aware of them, you can trace them back to the thought process that prompted them, and from there you can decide whether or not the idea is an actual threat or concern, or a fabrication of your reptilian mind just trying to keep you alive.”

                      Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 95)