- “Whatever we say to ourselves before we look at something determines what we see.” Albert Einstein
- “If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how- the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.” Abraham Lincoln, Seven MiraclesThat Saved America, 178
- “The ten to fifteen seconds of “pause and rest with an open mind” are just as important as saying the USM. You need to give your conscious and unconscious mind a few moments of open space in which to digest this powerful new idea. You also need to give yourself room to bring forth what I call back-talk from your old programming. Back-talk is what occurs when your old programming argues with the beautiful new idea you’re beaming into the depths of yourself. You say the USM to yourself—I expand in abundance, success, and love every day, as I inspire those around me to do the same—and a burst of mind chatter talks back to you with something like “Forget it. You’ll never inspire anybody to do anything worthwhile.” Expect plenty of back-talk during those seconds after you’ve floated the USM through your mind. It’s good to make room for the resistance that you (along with the rest of us) have to the powerful idea in the USM to surface. After all, you’re overcoming decades of conditioning, and you can’t expect that old programming to disappear into the void without a murmur. Actually, I want you not only to expect back-talk but to encourage it. Back-talk is a good thing, because it lets you know that the USM is working. The back-talk will stop once the USM has permeated your conscious and unconscious mind. Later, when you’re firmly established in your Zone of Genius, you’ll look back on your resistance like it was a backpack full of rocks you carried without realizing it. Once you take off the extra weight of the backpack, you’ll feel so liberated you won’t waste much time being concerned with the years you spent carrying it.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks)- Page 150
- “Old beliefs spring forth to pull us back down into the old familiar negative sense of ourselves,” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks)- Highlight on Page 188
- “When things are going well, or when you’re feeling particularly good, you can always bring yourself down by manufacturing a stream of worry-thoughts. Once you’ve brought yourself down by worrying, it’s very tempting to inflict those worry-thoughts on others. If we’re in the grip of worrying while someone around us isn’t, we seem to have an almost uncontrollable urge to criticize that person until he or she jumps into the stream of negativity with us.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks) Page 66
- “Worry is definitely an addiction. In fact, worrying is like playing a slot machine in a gambling casino. Occasionally the worrier will hit the jackpot and be rewarded for something that actually happens. If you worry long enough about the stock market crashing, you’ll eventually hit the jackpot, because from time to time it’s always going to crash.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks) Page 69
- “Just notice the voices and feel the fears. That’s all you need to do with them. You don’t need to rid yourself of them. Where would they go, anyway? All you need to do is acknowledge them, wave to them, let them know you’re aware of them. Then get busy learning to live in your Zone of Genius.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks) Page 119
- “Negative speaking so often flows from negative thinking, including negative thinking about ourselves. We see our own faults, we speak—or at least think—critically of ourselves, and before long that is how we see everyone and everything. No sunshine, no roses, no promise of hope or happiness. Before long we and all around us are miserable.” Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland) Kindle Loc. 639-41
- “Elder Orson F. Whitney once said: “The spirit of the gospel is optimistic; it trusts in God and looks on the bright side of things. The opposite or pessimistic spirit drags men down and away from God, looks on the dark side, murmurs, complains, and is slow to yield obedience.” We should honor the Savior’s declaration to “be of good cheer” (; ; ). (Indeed, it seems to me we may be more guilty of breaking that commandment than almost any other!) Speak hopefully. Speak encouragingly, including about yourself. Try not to complain and moan incessantly. As someone once said, “Even in the golden age of civilization someone undoubtedly grumbled that everything looked too yellow.”” Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland) Kindle Loc. 641-46
- “If you hear yourself expressing negative words of any sort, stop in mid-sentence. Either rephrase the sentence or just drop it. You could even say to it, “Out!”” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 37
- “Almost all of our programming, both negative and positive, was accepted by us by the time we were three years old.” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 61
- “Once there was a man who enjoyed taking evening walks around his neighborhood. He particularly looked forward to walking past his neighbor’s house. This neighbor kept his lawn perfectly manicured, flowers always in bloom, the trees healthy and shady. It was obvious that the neighbor made every effort to have a beautiful lawn. But one day as the man was walking past his neighbor’s house, he noticed in the middle of this beautiful lawn a single, enormous, yellow dandelion weed. It looked so out of place that it surprised him. Why didn’t his neighbor pull it out? Couldn’t he see it? Didn’t he know that the dandelion could cast seeds that could give root to dozens of additional weeds? This solitary dandelion bothered him beyond description, and he wanted to do something about it. Should he just pluck it out? Or spray it with weed killer? Perhaps if he went under cover of night, he could remove it secretly. These thoughts totally occupied his mind as he walked toward his own home. He entered his house without even glancing at his own front yard—which was blanketed with hundreds of yellow dandelions.” Dieter F. Uchtdorf, October 2014 General Conference
- “I am not asking that all criticism be silent. Growth comes with correction. Strength comes with repentance. Wise is the man or woman who, committing mistakes pointed out by others, changes his or her course. I am not suggesting that our conversation be all honey. Clever expression that is sincere and honest is a skill to be sought and cultivated. What I am suggesting and asking is that we turn from the negativism that so permeates our society and look for the remarkable good in the land and times in which we live, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults, that optimism replace pessimism. Let our faith replace our fears.” Manual, Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Gordon B Hinkley, Chapter 3, Cultivating an Attitude of Happiness and a Spirit of Optimism