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The less you think counterfactually, the less you experience stress. Stress, in this light, isn't a bad thing. It's simply a warning system telling you that your mind has lost touch with what's real.

Andrew Bernstein

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Andrew Bernstein
Age: 65
Born: 1959
Born: June 6
Author
Philosopher
University Teacher
Mind
Simply
Think
System
Thinking
Less
Experience
Lost
Warning
Light
Stress
Real
Touch
Thing
Telling

More quotes by Andrew Bernstein

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To believe that your husband, wife, parents, kids, boss, job, bank account, or body is even partly responsible for your emotions, to think that there are bullets 'out there' that you have to contend with, that there are stressful life events to overcome, is to miss something vital.
Andrew Bernstein
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The truth is that stress doesn't come from your boss, your kids, your spouse, traffic jams, health challenges, or other circumstances. It comes from your thoughts about these circumstances.
Andrew Bernstein
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... statism systematically violates the rights of individuals and is, therefore, immoral. Because it suppresses the mind and violates men's rights, it thereby causes abysmal poverty and is utterly impractical.
Andrew Bernstein
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The hero is valorous because he stands up to every threat directed against his values. Heroism requires value conflict.
Andrew Bernstein
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Some people are so used to experiencing stress that they don't remember what life was like without it.
Andrew Bernstein
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People often say that stress is a motivator. What we're referring to when we say this is really better described as stimulation and engagement.
Andrew Bernstein
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The number of stressors has multiplied exponentially: traffic, money, success, work/life balance, the economy, the environment, parenting, family conflict, relationships, disease. As the nature of human life has become far more complicated, our ancient stress response hasn't been able to keep up.
Andrew Bernstein
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You might think that shifting your thoughts is as easy as setting your mind to it. But stressful thoughts aren't held in place through choice or will power. They're held in place through perceived truth value.
Andrew Bernstein
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Stress is never a given. There are people who get divorced amicably. There are people who pack up and move with no emotional toll. There is no stressor 'out there' in the world. We experience stress - or we don't - depending on what we believe.
Andrew Bernstein
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Look closer at the stress in your own life and you can identify that negative emotions are always built on counterfactual statements.
Andrew Bernstein
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When a friend is sick, I see the situation for what it is, not what it isn't, and I offer to help as much as she wants, not as much as I want.
Andrew Bernstein
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The more you worry, the more you throw off the delicate balance of hormones required for health.
Andrew Bernstein
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Negative thoughts stick around because we believe them, not because we want them or choose them.
Andrew Bernstein
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A hero holds purposes appropriate to man and is, therefore, a thinker.
Andrew Bernstein
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Find the beliefs that are strangling your feelings, challenge them for your sake as well as theirs, and see how it feels to love someone without a thought about the future, simply for who they are today.
Andrew Bernstein
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Nothing is given to man on earth - struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible - the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen.
Andrew Bernstein
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We need to distinguish between stress and stimulation. Having deadlines, setting goals, and pushing yourself to perform at capacity are stimulating. Stress is when you're anxious, upset, or frustrated, which dramatically reduce your ability to perform.
Andrew Bernstein
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The reason humans experience so much more stress than other species isn't just because we think more, but also because we think differently.
Andrew Bernstein
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Even in this secular country, the threat posed by religious fundamentalists is never very far away. Every major religious text exhorts the same principles - that of unyielding obedience to a supernatural being, and renunciation of the intellect and personal aspirations.
Andrew Bernstein
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Many argue that Christianity is different from other religions - that it is primarily about love of one's fellow man. The Crusades, The Inquisition, Calvin's Geneva all prove that this is not the case. These events were pre-eminently about obedience to authority.
Andrew Bernstein