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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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Andrew Bernstein
Age: 65
Born: 1959
Born: June 6
Author
Philosopher
University Teacher
Believe
Stick
Sticks
Negative
Thoughts
Choose
Around

More quotes by Andrew Bernstein

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A hero has faced it all: he need not be undefeated, but he must be undaunted.
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 hero is valorous because he stands up to every threat directed against his values. Heroism requires value conflict.
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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The reason humans experience so much more stress than other species isn't just because we think more, but also because we think differently.
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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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It's time we learned the truth about stress. It's time we identified the thoughts that actually create our stress and learned to dismantle them one by one.
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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Stress is not the spice of life any more than arsenic is. And without it, you won't feel bored.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Stress is the negative whirlwind of emotions that gets imposed on top of our stimulation and engagement.
Andrew Bernstein
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Stress is a byproduct of subconscious beliefs you have about the world. You can't choose not to believe something. You believe it because you think it's true. To eliminate stress, you must learn to challenge these beliefs so that you see them differently.
Andrew Bernstein
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Altruism demands that an individual serve others, but doesn’t stipulate whether those others should be one’s family, or the homeless, or society as a whole. Collectivism states that, in politics, society comes first and the individual must obey. Collectivism is the application of the altruist ethics to politics.
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