How can stress management quotes help you understand stress?
- Reminders & reassurance: We need to be constantly reminded that our stress response is evolutionarily coded into our nervous system to protect us and reassured that stress is a natural part of life.
- Clarity & confidence: We could benefit from a mini revision course on how our attitude to stress can cause us further stress (!) and that gives us confidence to put the role of stress back into perspective.
- Insight & inspiration: Gaining insight from reading quotes (the distillation of experts’ research) can inspire us to be self-compassionate and to take action to better manage stress.
I hope these stress management quotes from some of the great masters in these fields inspire you as much as they did me.
Stress is a biological state designed to help you learn from experience.
Kelly McGonigal,
The Upside Of Stress – Why Stress Is Good For You (And How To Get Good At It).
You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.
Brené Brown
Only we humans worry about the future, regret the past, and blame ourselves for the present.
Rick Hanson, Buddha’s Brain The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom
Calling everything that goes wrong “stress” is a cop out. The blanket term is a slippery slope that can contribute to feeling you have no control over your “stressful” life. You do!
Allison Graham, Take Back Your Weekends: Stress Less. Do More. Be Happier.
What flows through your attention, sculpts your brain.
Rick Hanson, Buddha’s Brain The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom
The degree to which you are in control of your mind depends on how long you are able to remain completely free from thought. The longer you can remain effortlessly free from thought, the better your powers of concentration and focus.
Patrick McKeown, The Oxygen Advantage The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Technique That Will Revolutionise Your Health and Fitness
The good news is, even if you are firmly convinced that stress is harmful, you can still cultivate a mindset that helps you thrive.
Kelly McGonigal, The Upside Of Stress – Why Stress Is Good For You (And How To Get Good At It).
We can learn to recognise when we are war with ourselves and decide to pause and deepen our attention.
Tara Brach, True Refuge, Finding Peace and Freedom in your Own Awakened Heart
Distracting thought, however, will be habitually negative and irrational, often so automatic that the individual is unaware of them. This type of thinking creates tension, draining you of energy and distracting your game.
Patrick McKeown, The Oxygen Advantage The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Technique That Will Revolutionise Your Health and Fitness
The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.
Sharon Salzberg, Loving Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness
In many ways, the stress response is your best ally during difficult moments – a resource to rely on rather than an enemy to vanquish.
Kelly McGonigal, The Upside Of Stress – Why Stress Is Good For You (And How To Get Good At It).
All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Stress is caused by being here but wanting to be there, or being in the present but wanting to be in the future. It’s a split that tears you apart inside.
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now
Alternating between thinking and quietness creates space between thoughts to allow fresh ideas to surface. The thoughts that emerge after the silence of meditation can be very powerful, creative, intuitive, and may naturally provide you with the solution to your worries. The same process, of course, applies to daily life.
Patrick McKeown, The Oxygen Advantage The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Technique That Will Revolutionise Your Health and Fitness
If you focus on success, you’ll have stress. But if you pursue excellence, success will be guaranteed.
Deepak Chopra
Embracing stress is a radical act of self-trust. View yourself as capable and your body as a resource.
Kelly McGonigal, The Upside Of Stress – Why Stress Is Good For You (And How To Get Good At It).
Stress Management Techniques
If you’re looking for some stress management help right now, head over to our Freebies page where you can find some guided breathing techniques grounding yoga routines or our e-book on destressing.
Take our FREE Stress Resilience Quiz! Your instant on-screen results will help you find out where you could be strengthening your resilience and ability to bounce back after a stressful event.
