If you fixate on the worst-case scenario and it actually happens, you’ve lived it twice.
Interpretation
Worrying about negative outcomes can lead to unnecessary suffering.
This quote by Michael J. Fox emphasizes the idea that when you dwell on the worst possible outcomes of a situation, you not only experience the anxiety and fear of that outcome in your mind but also, if it comes true, you endure that reality again. Thus, the overthinking and fixation on negativity can cause you to suffer far more than the actual situation warrants.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming fear and anxiety.
I find as long as I acknowledge the truth of something, then that's it. I know what it is and then I can operate. But if I overestimate the downside of something or the challenge of something and I get too obsessed about the difficulty of it, then I don't leave enough room to be open to the upside, the possibility.
My whole life, meeting people is like a blind date, because I feel like they've already seen the video on me.
There are no moments you have frozen in amber. It's moving, it's changing, so appreciate what's good about right now and be ready for what's next.
There's always failure. And there's always disappointment. And there's always loss. But the secret is learning from the loss, and realizing that none of those holes are vacuums.
Certainly people have a lot tougher situations than I've had to deal with. But I will say we are all dying from the moment we are born. This is not just rehearsal.
I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I'm an activist, I'm a writer and I'm just a student of the world.
My mind, I know, I can prove, hovers on hummingbird wings. It hovers and it churns. And when it's operating at full thrust, the churning does not stop. The machines do not rest, the systems rarely cool. And while I can forget anything of any importance--this is why people tell me secrets--my mind has an uncanny knack for organization when it comes to pain. Nothing tormenting is ever lost, never even diminished in color or intensity or quality of sound.
It has long been recognized that an essential element in protecting human rights was a widespread knowledge among the population of what their rights are and how they can be defended.
One must shy away from questionable undertakings, even when they bear a high-sounding name.
Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.
I believe the reason we sleep is not just to allow our body to rest but that it is to allow this inner wisdom to speak to us through symbols. This includes the body or somatic problems as well as psychological ones. Dreams and drawings are useful in diagnosing physical conditions.
What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualizat ion.
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