Quotes About Choice

Insight is the booby prize of therapy" is my favorite maxim of the trade, meaning that you can have all the insight in the world, but if you don't change when you're out in the world, the insight—and the therapy—is worthless. Insight allows you to ask yourself, Is this something that's being done to me or am I doing it to myself? The answer gives you choices, but it's up to you to make them.

Most of us come to therapy feeling trapped—imprisoned by our thoughts, behaviors, marriages, jobs, fears, or past. Sometimes we imprison ourselves with a narrative of self-punishment. If we have a choice between believing one of two things, both of which we have evidence for—I'm unlovable, I'm lovable—often we choose the one that makes us feel bad. Why do we keep our radios tuned to the same static-ridden stations

You're not choosing the pain, but you're choosing the suffering

Second chances do come your way. Like trains, they arrive and depart regularly. Recognizing the ones that matter is the trick.

If you stay open to the wisdom of your Muse, you may discover you're a playwright, a sculptor, a kitchen-table comedian, a beacon of creative kindness, or a person who chooses grace over ego and contentment over greed. And in that choice you will create an world of joy within yourself, you'll truly be an artist of being alive.

How are you? How was your flight? He hit the Send button without recognizing that in writing to her he was taking a step back from his life as he knew it and into the unknown future, for one cannot embark upon the new without giving up something in return.

Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?

History is hereditary only in this way: we, all of us, inherit everything, and then we choose what to cherish, what to disavow, and what do do next, which is why it's worth trying to know where things come from.

The "basis of Feminism," Sanger said, had to be a woman's control over her own body, "the right to be a mother regardless of church or state."15

Whether or not this worked out, Ellie knew she would never regret it. Sometimes you just had to take the risk. Maybe it would be a brief but wonderful romance, maybe it would last a lifetime.

I chose the path less traveled but only because I was lost. Carry a map. - Phoebe Traeger

Try asking sometime. Not all women will stand for that 50 Shades crap, you know.

I'm not too chicken, she said. I know exactly what I want. I honestly thought I could do this with you, the whole friends-with-benefits thing. She slowly shook her head, her eyes suspiciously shiny. But as it turns out, I can't. Now with you, Adam. With you, I want it all. (...) It's not that simple for me, he heard himself say. Of course it is. Life is as simple as you make it, Adam. You're born. You live. You die. I don't plan on dying without doing the living part, though.

Life is one big fat gamble, and the odds are never in your favor. So you either go for it anyway and toss the dice or you don't play. But not playing? She jabbed him in the bare chest with her finger. That's the coward's way out. And I hadn't pegged you for a coward. Figure your shit out.

So what do you think I should do for myself then? Whatever feels right. She stared at him for the longest beat, and then she surprised him. She stepped close, so close they were toe-to-toe and everything in between, and his only thought was Oh, Christ, this feels right.

She wished now she'd brought that vibrator as a flashlight instead of leaving it on the couch.

How am I supposed to make big decisions when I still have to sing the alphabet in my head to get to the right letter?

You're as happy as you make up your mind to be." PHOEBE TRAEGER

You're as happy as you make up your mind to be.

If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.   —Dave Barry

So I've got just one question for you," she said softly. "Hit me." "Do friends sleep together?" "If the female half of our duo wants to." "Why the female half?" He laughed. "Because the male half always wants to.

Why choose failure when success is always an option?

Transformation is not five minutes from now; it's a present activity. In this moment you can make a different choice, and it's these small choices and successes that build up over time to help cultivate a healthy self-image and self esteem.

Lincoln said it best: "People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.