Quotes from “101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think” — Part 1
Whenever I read books, I like to take notes or copy down some quotes so that I can come back to them! And here are the quotes I have for the book “101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think” by Brianna Wiest :) [I’ll make this into 3 parts since it’ll be super long!]
Your brain can only perceive what it’s known, so when you choose what you want for the future, you’re actually just recreating a solution or an ideal of the past.
This is something that I think is easy to forget. There are so much that we don’t know yet, and that we haven’t experienced yet. It’s important that we take a step back sometimes and realise that we only know such a small part of what the real world is.
Fear and pain … are also indicators that you are doing something frightening and worthwhile.
YES! Stop trying to avoid fear and pain. They can be harmful at times, but they also serve an important role in our lives to make good decisions and to move forward.
Your habits create your mood, and your mood is a filter through which you experience your life.
If you’re interested in how this all works and how you can implement it into your life, I highly recommend the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. (I’ll post about this someday soon ;) Habits are so important when it comes to your mood and this can really change your life.
A lack of routine is just a breeding ground for perpetual procrastination. It gives us gaps and spaces in which our subconscious minds can say: “well, you can take a break now,” when in fact, you have a deadline. But if you’re used to taking a break at that point in time, you’ll allow it simply because “you always do.”
Again, it’s all about habits. Don’t let your subconscious mind take over your life!
The main thing socially intelligent people understand is that your relationship to everyone else is an extension of your relationship to yourself
This is so true. You absolutely HAVE TO have a good relationship with yourself in order to have one with anyone else! Put yourself first.
Feeling lost is actually a sign you’re becoming more present in your life
Feeling and realising that “you’re lost” is the first step into creating change.
you are the only person responsible for your life and your happiness
You have to be the one to make changes in your life and put in the work. No one else is going to do it for you.
Your anxiety is your resistance to the process, your last grasps at a control you are becoming more and more aware that you do not have. Your tiredness is your resistance to who you really are, the person you actually want to be. Your annoyance is your repressed anger. Your depression, biological factors aside of course, is everything coming to the surface, and you bellowing down to stow it away
There’s always a reason in why you feel a certain way. Understanding that is key to having control over your emotions.
You either let yourself feel everything or numb yourself into feeling nothing. You cannot select emotions. You are either in accord with their flow or in resistance to their nature. In the end, the choice is yours
Some people assume that “happy people” only feels happy. But that is so not true. If we want to feel happiness, we have to feel every other emotion as well. Having those negative emotions are so important in being able to feel happy :)
You question yourself. You doubt your life. You feel miserable some days. This means you’re still open to growth. This means you can be objective and self-aware. The best people go home at the end of the day and think: “or…maybe there’s another way.”
FACTSSS!!! Keep questioning and doubting everything!! That’s how you grow.
Nobody wants to believe happiness is a choice, because that puts responsibility in their hands. It’s the same reason people self-pity: to delay action, to make an outcry to the universe, as though the more they state how bad things are, the more likely it is that someone else will change them.
By being able to take that responsibility is how you find happiness in life.
Most of the time, it’s not about not knowing what to do (or not knowing who you are). It’s about the resistance between what’s right and what’s easy, what’s best in the long v. short term. …By not acting immediately, we think we’re creating space for the truth to shift, when we’re really only creating discomfort so that we can sense it more completely (though we’re suffering needlessly in the process).
Personally, this is something I still struggle to implement. Even though I understand it, it’s still hard to work against your subconscious mind telling you to that there’s an easier choice.
…the sense that everything ends and all is impermanent and while those things are more or less true, there is something just slightly truer, and it is that death gives life meaning. It’s the fact that we can lose what we have that makes it sacred and precious and wonderful. It’s not about what pain you suffer; it’s about what you suffer for.
Grief can make you feel like everything about it is negative. But there’s always a better way to look at it! Life is so precious and beautiful ❤
nothing is generally “scary” to us unless some part of us also wants to understand it, knows we are a part of it, and feels as though it will become part of our experience.
Another way to look at a negative emotion in a positive way! Feeling scared isn’t a bad thing! It’s natural and it shows interest for whatever it is that we’re scared about ;)
That’s it for this blog! 2 more parts coming up soon for the quotes from “101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think”. If you liked this, go check them out!!!
