Quotes About Emotions

They shake hands and all my past selves stretch between them like a fragile chain of paper dolls.

Moments appear like scattered puzzle pieces. What belongs to what? Where are the corners? I can hold only bits and pieces in my hands, and even these are suspect. I can't bring my parents close. It's not possible to sit them back down again and ask them: What happened? Did you ever love each other? When did you stop? Your legacy is a daughter who tries and tries to remember you.

The nature of trauma," van der Kolk had said, "is that you have no recollection of it as a story. The nature of traumatic experience is that the brain doesn't allow a story to be created.

grief—particularly the phenomenon known as complicated grief—runs its own course in its own time.

He was a husband. There is a name for what he is now. Widower. He had never fully appreciated, in all the years he took patients' medical histories, how it must feel to check that box.

Guilt at least has a purpose; it tells us we've violated some ethical code. Ditto for remorse. Those feelings are educational; they manufacture wisdom. But regret—regret is useless.

This is why therapists go to such lengths to urge their anxious patients away from intellectualization: The first step toward peace is disarmament.

The hard work, you discover over the years, is in learning to discern between correct and incorrect anxiety, between the anxiety that's trying to warn you about a real danger and the anxiety that's nothing more than a lying, sadistic, unrepentant bully in your head. The hard work is in learning to step back and analyze the data dispassionately.

If this all sounds melodramatic, well that, too, isn't a bad metaphor for anxiety—as a kind of drama queen of the mind. If you have ever been friends with a drama queen you know how taxing it can be. To have one in your head is enough to make you comatose.

The hard work, you discover over the years, is in learning to discern between correct and incorrect anxiety, between the anxiety that's trying to warn you about a real danger and the anxiety that's nothing more than a lying, sadistic, unrepentant bully in your head.

One cannot be exploited or thwarted from nine to five, then come home and feel loving and lovable.

Man is a short-sighted creature, sees but a very little way before him; and as his passions are none of his best friends, so his particular affections are generally his worst counselors.

quel guillochis oeuvre par la providence que la vie de l'homme! par combien de voies secretes et contraires les circonstances diverses ne precipitent-elles pas nos affections! aujourd'hui nous aimons ce que demain nous hairons,aujourd'hui nous recherchons ce que nous fuirons demain,aujourd'hui nous desirons ce que demain nous fera peur...

And by what secret differing springs are the affections hurried about, as differing circumstances present! To-day we love what to-morrow we hate- to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun- to-day we desire what tomorrow we fear, nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of.

Ismét fiút szültem, pompás fiúcska lett, de csak két hónapig élt; mikor azonban leküzdöttem magamban a gyengéd anyai szeretetet, nem is bántam már annyira, hogy a fiúcska meghalt, hiszen mérhetetlen sok gonddal járt volna egy gyermek visszautazásunk során.

Pues las alegrías súbitas, como las penas, al principio desconciertan.

For sudden joys, like grief's, confound at first.

No vaya a ser que la sorpresa arranque de su corazón el espíritu animal de la vida y termine con él. Pues las alegrías repentinas, como las penas, confunden al principio

Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.

We transmit and catch moods from each other in what amounts to a subterranean economy of the psyche in which some encounters are toxic, some nourishing.

Mindfulness helps especially for those of us for whom every setback, hurt or dissapointment creates endless cascades of rumination

channeling emotions toward a productive end is a master aptitude. Whether it be in controlling impulse and putting off gratification, regulating our moods so they facilitate rather than impede thinking, motivating ourselves to persist and try, try again in the face of setbacks, or finding ways to enter flow and so perform more effectively—all bespeak the power of emotion to guide effective effort.

1. Knowing one's emotions. Self-awareness—recognizing a feeling as it happens—is the keystone of emotional intelligence. As

Once when I was about 13, in an angry fit, I walked out of the house vowing I would never return. It was a beautiful summer day, and I walked far along lovely lanes, till gradually the stillness and beauty calmed and soothed me, and after some hours I returned repentant and almost melted. Since then when I am angry, I do this if I can, and find it the best cure.