If something controls you in a way that puzzles you, think of it as a mystery. Mysteries are best approached by closing your eyes and mouth to experience darkness and silence.
BERNIE SIEGELDisease is surely one of the ways in which we are tried by life and offered the chance to be heroic. Though few of us will win Olympic gold medals or slay dragons, disease can be the spark or gift that allows many of us to live out our personal myths and become heroes.
More Bernie Siegel Quotes
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I would never have had if I’d been fool enough to make them do what I thought they should do.
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Live by your experience and do not let limited beliefs alter your life experience.
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If our wholeness is interrupted, then our health suffers, and we need to find a way to restore our sense of meaning. When we move in the direction of that meaning, we’re healing.
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I love how Mother Theresa said she wouldn’t attend an anti-war rally but if there was a peace rally to call her. So I realized it’s not about waging a war against everybody’s disease and diagnosis but rather about helping them live.
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Those who look on the world with love will need a handkerchief, not to use as a blindfold, but to blow their nose and dry their tears.
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No matter what the statistics say there is always a way.
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You will notice at times that the new life isn’t what you asked for. But asking for specific items or for particular events to occur isn’t how I define prayer.
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An awareness of one’s mortality can lead you to wake up and live an authentic, meaningful life.
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If a person can turn from predicting illness to anticipating recovery, the foundation for cure is laid.
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In this view of the world, we spend the rest of our lives searching for wholeness and knowledge, wellness and health-the balance and harmony we lost when we were born.
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What I learned was to live in my heart and to do what will make my happy, and that was not selfishness. It didn’t matter what job I took, my mother’s answer was, “Do what will make you happy.”
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What if Jesus was the only normal person who ever lived?
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A surgeon is surrounded by people who are sick, discouraged, afraid, embittered, dying – but also courageous, loving, wise, compassionate and alive.
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The irony is that it is actually in your best interest to be selfless. The things you do for the benefit of others not only make you feel fulfilled, they increase your chances of living a long and happy life.
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Stories change people while statistics give them something to argue about.
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What I try to get physically healthy people to understand is that they’re going to die someday. There is no way out. And dying isn’t failure, but not living is, so make use of your time. Don’t keeping waiting.
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Feelings aroused by the touch of someones hand, the sound of music, the smell of a flower, a beautiful sunset, a work of art, love, laughter, hope and faith – all work on both the unconscious and the conscious aspects of the self, and they have physiological consequences as well.
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We destroy ourselves when we stop feeling. If you bury your feelings within you, you become a graveyard.
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You can’t control the world, but when you control your thoughts, you bring order.
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When you accept that you are not in charge of everything, you can begin to work with the one who really is in charge. This has been my experience; when I accepted that I was not in charge and started to work with someone else’s plan, the Boss showed up.
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Don’t do things to not die, do things to enjoy living. The by-product may be not dying.
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We are here to feel, wonder and gaze in awe at the world. Instead of just teaching our children how to use things and do things, I suggest we nourish their sense of wonder.
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When we hate people who hurt us, we come to resemble what we hate, or worse, and then we suffer all the more. What is evil is our response. We have choices, and love is the most powerful eliminator of all.
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As doctors, we are not trained to communicate and understand the power of our words as they relate to a patient’s ability and desire to survive.
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Our authority figures, particularly our parents are hypnotic. Their words are hypnotic literally to small children because of brain wave patterns.
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To paraphrase something the anthropologist Ashley Montagu once said, the way I change my life is to act as if I’m the person I want to be. This is, to me, the simplest, wisest advice you can give anyone.
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