25 Simple Yet Profound Richard Carlson Quotes from Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

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Excerpt: These quotes from Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff are simple, yet profound and will help you keep the little things from taking over your life.

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Introduction: Perspective changes everything

The powerful thing about perspective is that it has the ability to change how we see. And if how we see changes, well, everything in the world will look different. In life, many of us disproportionately view our world as larger than it is—we blow it out of proportion. Why? Because from our perspective, our world is the world. The size of our perception of life is the size of our understanding of the world. And when we hyper focus on the trivialities of our life in comparison to all that’s happening in life throughout the world? Those trivialities can start to look much bigger than they really are.

When you take back control of your perception towards what happens to you in life—you take back your life. You have the ability to take thoughts that are viciously vivid and tearing you up inside and literally blur them into the background of your thinking. You have the ability to take a thought that’s causing you pain and choose to look at it from another perspective that might give you hope instead. You have the ability to zoom out from the intense focus that you’re putting on the stupid thing someone said to you and you could broaden your scope to include the problems—real problems—that others are facing instead. These mental strategies, while simple in their explanation, can have a profound impact on the focus of your mind.

The bottom line is, anything that happens in our lives has the potential to be as big or as small as we decide to make it. It’s hard not to sweat the big stuff that happens—but small stuff?  We have to stop sweating it. There are plenty of problems in the world as it is—we don’t need the absolute, breath-taking miracle that is your mind focused on the dismal, feeble, micro-problems that are contained within your life.

Maintain a healthy perspective on everything that’s happening in your world. Ask yourself, “Will this matter 5 years from now?” “Is this something that’s within my control that requires deep thought or isn’t and requires moving on instead?” “What can I learn from this situation?” “Is whatever that’s upsetting me being blown out of proportion?” It’s time to let the small stuff go. Devote the resources of your mind to the big stuff. The stuff that we all could certainly use some help confronting and dealing with.

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In his book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff—and It’s All Small Stuff, Richard Carlson shares simple, anecdotal ideas that can help put many of the trivialities we experience in our lives back into perspective.  

• That argument that you just blew up over? Is now just a thought that’s cycling in your head—you can control those thoughts.
• Your favorite cup just broke? Everything has a beginning and everything has an end—it was your cup’s time.
• Your teenager is giving you the worst attitude? What if they were actually enlightened and they were trying to teach you something?

These are just a few quick examples of some of the ideas that Carlson shares. Below, you will find our complete list of 25 quotes from Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff that’ll help you keep the trivial things in perspective. We hope you enjoy :)

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The List: Top 25 Quotes from Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson

“Being listened to and heard is one of the greatest desires of the human heart. And those who learn to listen are the most loved and respected.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 34)

“Effective listening is more than simply avoiding the bad habit of interrupting others while they are speaking or finishing their sentences. It’s being content to listen to the entire thought of someone rather than waiting impatiently for your chance to respond.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

“An argument that happened while you were walking out the door on your way to work is no longer an actual argument, it’s a thought in your mind.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 166)

“When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 123)

“Your heart, the compassionate part of you, knows that it’s impossible to feel better at the expense of someone else.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 95)

“It’s the recognition that other people’s problems, their pain and frustrations, are every bit as real as our own – often far worse. In recognizing this fact and trying to offer some assistance, we open our hearts and greatly enhance our sense of gratitude.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 17)

“Thinking of someone to love each day keeps your resentment away!”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 109)

“As you put more emphasis on being a loving person, which is something you can control – and less emphasis on receiving love, which is something you can’t control – you’ll find that you have plenty of love in your life.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 226)

“Choose to be kind over being right and you’ll be right every time.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

“As long as you think more is better, you’ll never be satisfied.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 229)

“Our disappointment comes about in essentially two ways. When we’re experiencing pleasure we want it to last forever. It never does. Or when we’re experiencing pain, we want it to go away – now. It usually doesn’t. Unhappiness is the result of struggling against the natural flow of experience.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 223)

“When you’re in an ill mood, learn to pass it off as simply that: an unavoidable human condition that will pass with time, if you leave it alone. A low mood is not the time to analyze your life.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 83)

“True happiness comes not when we get rid of all of our problems, but when we change our relationship to them, when we see our problems as a potential source of awakening, opportunities to practice, and to learn.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

“If we would just slow down, happiness would catch up to us.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

“We live our lives as if they were one big emergency! We often rush around looking busy, trying to solve problems, but in reality, we are often compounding them.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 1)

“The first step in becoming a more peaceful person is to have the humility to admit that, in most cases, you’re creating your own emergencies. Life will usually go on if things don’t go according to plan.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 62)

“We forget that life isn’t as bad as we’re making it out to be. We also forget that when we’re blowing things out of proportion, we are the ones doing the blowing.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 147)

“So often, either consciously or unconsciously, we want something from others, especially when we have done something for them – It’s almost as though we keep score of our own good deeds rather than remembering that giving is its own reward.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 181)

“Something wonderful begins to happen with the simple realization that life, like an automobile, is driven from the inside out, not the other way around. As you focus more on becoming more peaceful with where you are, rather than focusing on where you would rather be, you begin to find peace right now, in the present. Then, as you move around, try new things, and meet new people, you carry that sense of inner peace with you. It’s absolutely true that, ‘Wherever you go, there you are.’”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 134)

“We tend to believe that if we were somewhere else – on vacation, with another partner, in a different career, a different home, a different circumstance – somehow we would be happier and more content. We wouldn’t!”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 133)

“One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It’s not and it won’t. When we make this mistake we tend to spend a lot of time wallowing and/or complaining about what’s wrong with life. “It’s not fair,” we complain, not realizing that, perhaps, it was never intended to be.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

“Indeed, the important question in terms of becoming more peaceful isn’t whether or not you’re going to have negative thoughts – you are – it’s what you choose to do with the ones that you have.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 165)

“Ask yourself the question, “Will this matter a year from now?”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 45)

“Imagining yourself at your own funeral allows you to look back at your life while you still have the chance to make some important changes.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Page 59)

“The key to a good life is this: If you’re not going to talk about something during the last hour of your life, then don’t make it a top priority during your lifetime.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

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If you enjoyed these quotes from Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, then you’ll certainly enjoy reading Richard Carlson’s book in full. It comes highly recommended:

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