Kyle > Kyle's Quotes

“depression forges a connection in the brain between sad mood and negative thoughts, so that even normal sadness can reawaken major negative thoughts.”
― Mark Williams, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

“the anatomy of depression and of its four key dimensions: feelings, thoughts, body sensations, and behaviors,”
― Mark Williams, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

“But what if there is nothing “wrong” with you at all?”
― Mark Williams, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

“We only compound our feelings of depletion if we deal with them by giving up activities that normally nourish us,”
― Mark Williams, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

“For some, especially young people, irritability is a more prominent experience than sadness in depression.”
― Mark Williams, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

“Our emotional reactions depend on the story we tell ourselves, the running commentary in the mind that interprets the data we receive through our senses.”
― Mark Williams, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

“Often we see the situation (A) and the reaction (C) but are unaware of the interpretation (B).”
― Mark Williams, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

“Imagine what effect it would have on you if someone stood behind you all day telling you how useless you were when you were trying desperately to cope with a difficult experience. Now imagine how much worse it would be if the criticism and harsh judgment came from inside your own mind.”
― Mark Williams, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

“Unhappiness itself is not the problem—it is an inherent and unavoidable part of being alive. Rather, it’s the harshly negative views of ourselves that can be switched on by unhappy moods that entangle us. It is these views that transform passing sadness into persistent unhappiness and depression. Once these harsh, negative views of ourselves are activated, not only do they affect our mind, they also have profound effects on our body—and then the body in turn has profound effects on the mind and emotions.”
― Mark Williams, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

“the most ancient parts of the brain make no distinction between the external threat of the tiger and internal “threats” such as worries about the future or memories from the past.”
― Mark Williams, The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

“Buddhist writings (including this book) can be likened to a raft. A raft is a very handy thing to carry you across the water, from one shore to another. But once you’ve reached the other shore, you no longer need the raft. Indeed, if you wish to continue your journey beyond the shore, you must leave the raft behind. Our problem is that we tend to fall in love with the raft.”
― Steve Hagen, Buddhism Plain and Simple: The Practice of Being Aware Right Now, Every Day

“The purpose of Buddhism is not to convert people. It is to give them tools so they can create greater happiness. So they can be happier Catholics, happier atheists, happier Buddhists.”
― David Michie, The Dalai Lama's Cat

“The thought manifests as the word; the word manifests as the deed; the deed develops into habit; and habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care, and let it spring from love born out of concern for all beings … As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become.”
― David Michie, The Dalai Lama's Cat

“Awake. Be the witness of your thoughts. You are what observes, not what you observe” - Siddhartha Gautama”
― John Baskin, Buddhism: 50 Buddhist Teachings for Happiness, Spiritual Healing and Enlightenment

“Bashō wrote, “The moon and sun are travelers of a hundred generations. The years, coming and going, are wanderers too. Spending a lifetime adrift on boat decks, greeting old age while holding a horse by the mouth—for such a person, each day is a journey, and the journey itself becomes home.”
― Jane Hirshfield, The Heart of Haiku

“Even though the restriction couldn’t be enforced under federal law, the state ban on interracial marriage in Alabama continued into the twenty-first century. In 2000, reformers finally had enough votes to get the issue on the statewide ballot, where a majority of voters chose to eliminate the ban, although 41 percent voted to keep it.”
― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

“nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know
…nothing ever really attacks us except our own confusion. perhaps there is no solid obstacle except our own need to protect ourselves from being touched. maybe the only enemy is that we don’t like the way reality is now and therefore wish it would go away fast. but what we find as practitioners is that nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. if we run a hundred miles an hour to the other end of the continent in order to get away from the obstacle, we find the very same problem waiting for us when we arrive. it just keeps returning with new names, forms, manifestations until we learn whatever it has to teach us about where we are separating ourselves from reality, how we are pulling back instead of opening up, closing down instead of allowing ourselves to experience fully whatever we encounter, without hesitating or retreating into ourselves.”
― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

“First Thoughts are the everyday thoughts. Everyone has those. Second Thoughts are the thoughts you think about the way you think. People who enjoy thinking have those. Third Thoughts are thoughts that watch the world and think all by themselves. They’re rare, and often troublesome. Listening to them is part of witchcraft.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky