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    “In Meditations, Marcus [Aurelius] talks about how he had a good day because he escaped anxiety. Then, he actually corrects himself, he goes ‘Actually, no, I didn’t escape it, I discarded it because it was within me.’ He’s realizing that he is the common variable in all the situations that cause him anxiety, just as you are. Anxiety is within us. We want to work on [controlling] it and thinking about it so it doesn’t rule our lives — or ruin our lives.”

    Ryan Holiday

      “You are better equipped to deal with stress when you are moving. When you feel tense or frustrated or worried, it is difficult to think your way into feeling better. The more you think about the situation, the larger it becomes in your mind. Trying to think your way out of it often leads to a spiral of overthinking and rumination. The first step is not to think something different, but to do something different. It doesn’t matter what. Stretch on the floor, go for a walk, work on a project. Get out of your mind and move your body.”

      James Clear

        “In one sense, the Buddhist concept of enlightenment really is just the epitome of ‘stress reduction’—and depending on how much stress one reduces, the results of one’s practice can seem more or less profound. According to the Buddhist teachings, human beings have a distorted view of reality that leads them to suffer unnecessarily. We grasp at transitory pleasures. We brood about the past and worry about the future. We continually seek to prop up and defend an egoic self that doesn’t exist. This is stressful—and spiritual life is a process of gradually unraveling our confusion and bringing this stress to an end. According to the Buddhist view, by seeing things as they are, we cease to suffer in the usual ways, and our minds can open to states of well-being that are intrinsic to the nature of consciousness.”

        Sam Harris, Waking Up (Page 48)

          “In what areas of your life are you rigid about your identity? Chances are, these are the same areas in your life that generate the most stress and conflict.”

          Mark Manson

            “There are three strands, present for most everyone: Power (sometimes seen as status, or the appearance of status); Safety (survival and peace of mind); Meaning (hope and the path forward). The changes in our media structure, public health and economy have pushed some people to overdo one or the other and perhaps ignore a third. When a social network finds your button and presses it over and over, it’s hard to resist. New cultural forces catch on because they hit on one or more of these. And politics is understood through this lens as well. See the braid and it’s a lot easier to figure out why we might be stressed.”

            Seth Godin

              “Everybody thinks their job is stressful. No job is stressful. There are many jobs that could present challenging situations. There could be nasty bosses, insecure colleagues, emergency rooms, impossible deadlines—or you might even find yourself in the middle of a war zone! But these are not inherently stressful. It is our compulsive reaction to the situations in which we are placed that causes stress. Stress is a certain level of internal friction. One can easily lubricate the inner mechanism with some amount of inner work and awareness. So, it is your inability to handle your own system that is stressing you out. On some level, you do not know how to handle your body, mind, and emotions; that is the problem.”

              Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 141)

                “When I first came to the United States, I heard everybody talking about ‘stress management.’ It puzzled me. Why would anybody want to manage stress? I always thought we managed the things that are precious to us—our money, our business, our family. It took me time to see that people have assumed that stress is an inevitable part of their lives! They do not see that it is entirely self-created and self-inflicted. Once you take charge of your inner life, there is no such thing as stress.“

                Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 54)

                  “Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.”

                  Chinese proverb

                    “Look into yourself and try to figure out the big stress that is magnetically attracting all the tiny stresses to feed your volcano.  When we address the big ones, the small ones can slide off our shoulders instead of building up into something they don’t need to be.  If something minor is setting you off more than normal, it may be a sign that the big one is not far behind.  Find a quiet place, get comfortable, and ask the uncomfortable question: “What’s really bugging me?”  Whatever it is, it’s important to be the archaeologist and start digging inward to discover what’s down there.  You’ll quickly realize that problems have layers, and many of them don’t have other people’s names attached to them.  This practice of digging deeper and peeling away layers is important as it’ll help us find the root of many of our problems—which is usually about fear.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 252)