Andrew J. Bernstein Quotes

During the financial crisis, I worked with hundreds of executives who struggled as a result of their thoughts about job security. When their beliefs changed, so did their emotional experience - and they were then able to focus on the task at hand more effectively.

We are not disturbed by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us.

It's soothing to realize that my mind's processes are inherently uncontrollable.

We all go through different mood changes. I'm just a person; I've got all those emotions going like everybody else, and sometimes it gets the better of you.

I remember that in the past I was overwhelmed with the mystery of anxiety, or the mystery of depression, but now when you feel that feeling coming on you no longer go into fight-or-flight mode. You go: 'Oh, I know what this is' and you ride it out.

I don't really feel any pressure. I can control only what I can control.

It's time we learned the truth about stress. It's time we identified the thoughts that actually create our stress and learned to dismantle them one by one.

We are not a victim of our emotions or thoughts. We can understand our triggers and use them as tools to help us respond more objectively.

Success and failure are emotional and physiological experiences. We need to deal with them in a way that is present and calm.

The truth is that there is no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it's your thoughts that create these false beliefs. You can't package stress, touch it, or see it. There are only people engaged in stressful thinking.

Staying composed, focused, and effective under pressure are all about your mentality. People who successfully manage crises are able to channel their emotions into producing the behavior that they want.

Remember that stress doesn't come from what's going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what's going on in your life.

I found out that I couldn't have a nervous breakdown. I tried a couple of times, but it just didn't work out. My mind, my body wouldn't let me.

Obviously I have a capacity for feeling extreme anxiety, and there are people out there who don't. I'm to some extent rather jealous of them.

Your emotions are very unstable and should never be the foundation for direction in your life.

People who fail to use their emotional intelligence skills are more likely to turn to other, less effective means of managing their mood. They are twice as likely to experience anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and even thoughts of suicide.

When I say manage emotions, I only mean the really distressing, incapacitating emotions. Feeling emotions is what makes life rich. You need your passions.

The less you think counterfactually, the less you experience stress. Stress, in this light, isn't a bad thing. It's simply a warning system telling you that your mind has lost touch with what's real.

The only thing to know is how to use your neurosis.

Once you know the emotional building blocks of anxiety, you can influence them.

There's no doubt I'm emotional.

I used to have to think about awful things to get myself emotionally connected to something.

People say, 'Jay, you're a great guy, you just had a couple of bad nights.' People that have themselves under control don't have a couple of bad nights like that. Plain and simple.

We're always experiencing joy or sadness. But there are lots of people who've closed down. And there are times in one's life when one has to close down just to regroup.

I'm a very anxious person, and it's hard for me to be in the moment. Improv demands that you be in the moment.