Skip to content

    “Sometimes we’ll say small things to someone and they’ll lose their sh*t.  It’s not because they’re crazy—it’s because whatever we said was the last straw.  People walk around collecting moments of stress, and if left unaddressed, stress will pile up until they hit their limit, and then Kaboom!  We’ve all had our own stories of hitting our breaking point and letting the wrong person have it.  Those experiences, as unfortunate as they are, also allow us to find compassion when it happens to others.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 225)

      “The bad habits we’ve formed are often useful to us because they help us deal with stress and boredom.  Consider some of the bad habits that fit this bill: smoking, procrastination by browsing the Internet, eating junk food, drinking, addiction to TV or video games, compulsive shopping, biting nails.  All of these habits fill a strong need: they are ways to cope with stress and/ or boredom.  We have formed them as coping mechanisms, and they stick around because we don’t have better ways of coping.  So if we replace them with healthier ways of coping, we get rid of the problems of these bad habits, and start getting the benefits of better habits.” ~ Leo Babauta, Essential Zen Habits (Page 152)

      Quote on Managing Stress By Controlling What You Can and Letting Go Of What You Can’t

        “Remember, most of your stress comes from the way you respond, not the way life is. Adjust your attitude. Change how you see things. Look for the good in all situations. Take the lesson and find new opportunities to grow. Let all the extra stress, worrying and overthinking go.”

        Unknown

        Beyond the Quote (44/365)

        The above quote can be boiled down the following idea: accept what you cannot change, take control of what you can, do what you need to do to figure out which category each situation in your life falls, and act accordingly.   If you never make the connection that a given situation is out of your control, then you might drive yourself mad in trying to change it.  If you don’t even realize that a situation is within your control (or that at least part of it is) and you act as though it’s not, you might be suffering unnecessarily as a result.

        Read More »Quote on Managing Stress By Controlling What You Can and Letting Go Of What You Can’t

          “Are you stressed?  Are you so busy getting to the future that the present is reduced to a means of getting there?  Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there,’ or being in the present but wanting to be in the future.  It’s a split that tears you apart inside.  To create and live with such an inner split is insane.  The fact that everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it any less insane.  If you have to, you can move fast, work fast, or even run, without projecting yourself into the future and without resisting the present.  As you move, work, run — do it totally.  Enjoy the flow of energy, the high energy of that moment.  Now you are no longer stressed, no longer splitting yourself in two.  Just moving, running, working—and enjoying it.  Or you can drop the whole thing and sit on a park bench.  But when you do, watch your mind.  It may say: ‘You should be working.  You are wasting time.’ Observe the mind.  Smile at it.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 84)

            “Only dead people never get stressed, never get broken hearts, never experience the disappointment that comes with failure. Tough emotions are part of our contract with life. You don’t get to have a meaningful career or raise a family or leave the world a better place without stress and discomfort. Discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life.” ~ Susan David, Ph.D, Mindful

              “If the situation or problem is such that it can be remedied, then there is no need to worry about it.  In other words, if there is a solution or a way out of the difficulty, then one needn’t be overwhelmed by it.  The appropriate action is to seek its solution.  It is more sensible to spend the energy focusing on the solution rather than worrying about the problem.  Alternatively, if there is no way out, no solution, no possibility of resolution, then there is also no point in being worried about it, because you can’t do anything about it anyway.  In that case, the sooner you accept this fact, the easier it will be on you.” ~ Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness

                “It seems that often when problems arise, our outlook becomes narrow.  All of our attention may be focused on worrying about the problem, and we may have a sense that we’re the only one that is going through such difficulties.  This can lead to a kind of self-absorption that can make the problem seem very intense.  When this happens, I think that seeing things from a wider perspective can definitely help – realizing, for instance, that there are many other people who have gone through similar experiences, and even worse experiences.  If you focus too closely, too intensely, on a problem when it occurs, it appears uncontrollable.  But if you compare that event with some other greater event, look at the same problem from a distance, then it appears smaller and less overwhelming.” ~ Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness

                  “The main way you generate bodily tension is by turning your attention back on yourself in self-concern, curling into yourself so tightly you feel all knotted up.  Therefore, the main cure is to give yourself to others.  Whenever you notice that you are mulling over your own problems, knotting energy into your body as tension, take that energy and create a gift for others.  It could be as simple as doing the dishes in the sink, or as complex as building a business that will benefit others.  Convert into service the energy that is knotting up the front of your body.  Your tension is only the energy of a gift that has become backed up, unexpressed, in your body.” ~ David Deida, The Way of the Superior Man

                    “Many people try to avoid pressure, yet the absence of any tension or pressure usually creates a sense of boredom and the lackluster experience of life that so many people complain about.” ~ Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within