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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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Andrew Bernstein
Age: 65
Born: 1959
Born: June 6
Author
Philosopher
University Teacher
Emotions
Negative
Built
Emotion
Stressors
Look
Identify
Looks
Closer
Always
Statements
Life
Stress

More quotes by 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 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.
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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.
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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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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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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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We all enjoy pushing ourselves to accomplish our objectives. But we don't need stress to get there.
Andrew Bernstein
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You can't tell yourself that your stress is produced in your head and feel better. You still need to learn how to create a change.
Andrew Bernstein
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Stress is the negative whirlwind of emotions that gets imposed on top of our stimulation and engagement.
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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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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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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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The elusive truth is that there is nothing stress-producing in the physical world. Things simply are. Molecules move. Light and sound appear.
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 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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A hero holds purposes appropriate to man and is, therefore, a thinker.
Andrew Bernstein
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Throughout history, independent minds have carried mankind forward. Whether they identified how to make fire or manufacture tools, develop rational philosophy or create man-glorifying art, pioneer scientific knowledge or invent the electric light, independent thinkers have created the goods on which human life and prosperity depend.
Andrew Bernstein
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Remember that stress doesn't come from what's going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what's going on in your life.
Andrew Bernstein
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During the financial crisis, I worked with hundreds of executives who struggled as a result of their thoughts about job security. When their beliefs changed, so did their emotional experience - and they were then able to focus on the task at hand more effectively.
Andrew Bernstein
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People around the world now complain about stressors everyday, and the word shows up throughout professional and lay literature. But in reality there is no such thing as a stressor. Why not? Because nothing has the inherent power to provoke stress.
Andrew Bernstein