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    “As long as we feel safely held in the hearts and minds of the people who love us, we will climb mountains and cross deserts and stay up all night to finish projects. Children and adults will do anything for people they trust and whose opinion they value. But if we feel abandoned, worthless, or invisible, nothing seems to matter. Fear destroys curiosity and playfulness. In order to have a healthy society we must raise children who can safely play and learn. There can be no growth without curiosity and no adaptability without being able to explore, through trial and error, who you are and what matters to you.”

    Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps The Score (Page 352) | ★ Featured on this book list.

      “Being validated by feeling heard and seen is a precondition for feeling safe, which is critical when we explore the dangerous territory of trauma and abandonment.”

      Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps The Score (Page 303) | ★ Featured on this book list.

        “Social support is not the same as merely being in the presence of others. The critical issue is reciprocity: being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone else’s mind and heart. For our physiology to calm down, heal, and grow we need a visceral feeling of safety. No doctor can write a prescription for friendship and love: These are complex and hard-earned capacities. You don’t need a history of trauma to feel self-conscious and even panicked at a party with strangers—but trauma can turn the whole world into a gathering of aliens.”

        Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps The Score (Page 81) | ★ Featured on this book list.

          “Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives. Numerous studies of disaster response around the globe have shown that social support is the most powerful protection against becoming overwhelmed by stress and trauma.”

          Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps The Score (Page 81) | ★ Featured on this book list.

            “Maintain a margin of safety—even when it’s going well. Rich people go bankrupt chasing even more wealth. Fit people get injured chasing personal records. Productive people become ineffective taking on too many projects. Don’t let your ambition ruin your position.”

            James Clear, Blog

              “there is no bigger illusion in the world

              than the idea that a woman will

              bring dishonor into a home

              if she tries to keep her heart

              and her body safe”

              Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey (Page 24)

                “People, including children (who are people too, after all), don’t seek to minimize risk.  They seek to optimize it.  They drive and walk and love and play so that they achieve what they desire, but they push themselves a bit at the same time, too, so they continue to develop.  Thus, if things are made too safe, people (including children) start to figure out ways to make them dangerous again.” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 287)

                  “Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than out-and-out exposure, and the fearful are captured just as frequently as the bold.” ~ Unknown