Lyoto Machida Quotes

I was in a very deep, dark slump, and I needed to find a way to get myself out of it. I had to force myself back out into life, back out into experiencing things.

Sometimes it's been difficult to stay positive, especially after the injuries that I've had, which have been frustrating.

If I were rewriting 'Love, Medicine & Miracles,' I might consider changing its title to 'The Side Effects of Cancer.' Healing is hard work, as is any change one must make in one's life. I and others have learned, however, that the side effects of cancer may not all be bad ones.

I have this thing I say to myself that 'tomorrow can be better.' And I remember that period in my life where I never felt like tomorrow could be better. It was always dread for the next day.

I've had some dark nights of the soul, of course, but giving in to depression would be a sellout, a defeat.

I can't understand people who give up and commit suicide. If I have a bad day, I figure tomorrow will be better. And even if it isn't, at least it isn't any worse.

The darkest experiences in a human being's life allow that person to either go deeper and stay depressed or get the strength to stand up stronger than ever, and that's my case.

I'm a creative person who had a lot of dark time in my life. I can still get to it: I can still go to a relationship or a time when things weren't great. But it's getting further and further from me.

I think you can be depressed and flourish, I think you can have cancer and flourish, I think you can be divorced and flourish. When we believed that happiness was only smiling and good mood, that wasn't very good for people like me, people in the lower half of positive affectivity.

I do not have bad days. I don't wake up in the morning and think that I'm going to get AIDS. I don't dream bad dreams about it. If I did, I'd be giving in to the negativity.

In terms of 'Saving Face,' I was inspired by the stories of survivors who didn't let their attacks stop them from pursuing justice and seeking treatment.

I took a shot and tried to create something world changing and it didn't work out. I gave it everything I had, literally, and now I'm just trying to manage day by day and it's been challenging but my wife and my kids are healthy, and I'm OK.

In life, you have to learn how to heal. You never get over stuff, but you have to learn how to heal.

I think it's about not just the crisis you're in, but how do you get to the other side? How do we heal? How do we survive this experience while remaining hopeful instead of filled with despair? That's what interests me.

The biggest message I want to get out is that a lot of us live in a bubble, and we think things can't happen to us, but they do. When it does happen to you, take care of yourself, and then get up.

I do a lot of book signings and conventions every year, and I meet a great many readers who are struggling... they're working through illness, injury, addiction, depression, grief, or some other trauma. It seems to me that there's a lot of heroism in fighting those things as well, as best you can.

Today, I don't have any psychological scars, because I am a realist and an optimist. After all, I can't lose my legs twice.

It has been difficult to get back on the saddle, particularly after getting whiplash and concussion, but it's just about understanding that sometimes it's OK to say, 'I don't want to get back on my bike for week.'

I think the hardest thing I went through in the UFC was my first loss. It was terrible. It was traumatizing. But it's just going back and rebuilding and getting better.

I want survivors to know that healing is possible.

I was diagnosed with OCD and depression, and that was a huge relief, because now my struggles had a name and could be reckoned with. With a combination of therapy and medication, I got better. I learned to love life again. My problems didn't go away, but they became much easier to face.

Thank you to everybody who was there for me when I was going through depressed times.

I think there's a lot of people going through different things where you feel like your whole world's imploded, and you feel like you lost it all, whether it's physical, emotional, whatever you're going through. If I can be that beacon of hope for people that need it the most through dancing and through our storytelling, then I've done my job.

It definitely gives you a boost away from home and being down and coming back.