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    “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)

      “Try to understand and remember that a person always tries to do what is best for himself. And if he is right when he does the best thing for himself, it is good; but if he is mistaken, it is bad, because suffering will follow after such mistakes. If you remember this, then you will never be upset by anybody, you will never reproach anybody, and you will never be an enemy to anybody.”

      Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 130)

        “Devastation—that feeling that we’re absolutely crushed and shocked by an event—is a factor of how unlikely we considered that event in the first place. No one is wrecked by the fact that it’s snowing in the winter, because we’ve accepted (and even anticipated) this turn of events. What about the occurrences that surprise us? We might not be so shocked if we took the time to consider their possibility.”

        Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 347)

          “The best thing for being sad… is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.”

          T.H. White, The Once and Future King

            “Clear your mind and get a hold on yourself and, as when awakened from sleep and realizing it was only a bad dream upsetting you, wake up and see that what’s there is just like those dreams.”

            Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, via The Daily Stoic (Page 55)

              “Who then is invincible? The one who cannot be upset by anything outside their reasoned choice.”

              Epictetus, via The Daily Stoic (Page 44)

              Susan David Quote on False Positivity and Why We Shouldn’t Push Aside Difficult Emotions

                “When we push aside difficult emotions in order to embrace false positivity, we lose our capacity to develop deep skills to help us deal with the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.”

                Susan David, Ph.D, Mindful

                Beyond the Quote (27/365)

                This is the problem with positive thinking from a superficial standpoint.  If something sad happens and you try to cover it up with happy thoughts, like a kind of mask, you get an un-dealt-with-sadness that lies suppressed inside.  When something really upsets you and you try to distract your mind from confronting that “upset-ness,” those feelings will get pushed down and will continue to broil from deep within.

                Read More »Susan David Quote on False Positivity and Why We Shouldn’t Push Aside Difficult Emotions