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Stress Quotes

    “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

                “The more we worry about time, the more time is lost to worrying.” ~ Unknown

                  “For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.”  ~ Lily Tomlin

                    “A good question to revisit whenever overwhelmed: Are you having a breakdown or a breakthrough?” ~ Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek

                      “We create stress for ourselves because you feel like you have to do it. You have to. I don’t feel that anymore.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

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