“What people don’t understand is: The emotional process of your brain – the limbic system – is simply there for survival. It’s not intelligent in the way of being able to discern what is a real-life threatening moment versus something that you’re just internalizing as a threat like: “Oh no, I have a deadline tomorrow and I have not started on this yet.” So – you’re like “High alert – high alert!” and your body is like – ‘I got this.’ So, it’s going to cascade, and it’s going to do things like – increase your heart rate, it’s going to take the blood away from your extremities and put it into your arms and legs so that you could run away or punch something. It’s going to shut down your digestive tract, constrict your blood vessels – it’s a whole-body cascade. But what most people fail to mention in this little party that’s going on is something important: The pre-frontal cortex of your brain, during this reaction, does its own process. And, that process is shutting down your ability to make decisions, shutting down your ability to make judgement calls, and shutting down your ability to hold back on your impulses. Which is why when you feel emotionally frantic – you can literally lose it. You can go into a rage because you no longer have that impulse control to tell you: ‘Hello? No this is a bad idea! Don’t do that thing.’ This whole process takes minimum 30 minutes.”

“The thing is, we don’t live on a one-and-done system. We’re constantly in our own heads. We’re constantly thinking, we’re constantly processing our world and so we’re constantly triggering ourselves (which is just so funny because nowadays we talk about everybody else triggering us but, little did you know – you’re triggering yourself all day long). So, when do you get a break? And when can your brain do some damage control for YOU?”

“The thing is, the body can only take so much. The brain can only take so much. After a while, your brain is going to go: ‘Alright, well, it seems like I keep working real hard, and, you’re not really doing anything about it, and if we keep this up – if we keep this train chugging at THIS speed, you’re going to die.’ And remember, as I said before, this part of your brain is only about survival. It’s not necessarily making judgements on what’s best for you. It’s like, ‘hey, I just want to like – live. Let’s just – make it to tomorrow.” So, after some time, your brain goes ‘Alright, clearly it’s not working so *power down noise* Shut it down.’ Shut it down, and that’s now the gateway to depression.”

“They always say: ‘Knowledge is power.’ In this case, knowledge is freedom. It really opens you up. Like, Okay I understand the process, now I can do the work.”

“Misattribution of Arousal – you experience some sort of physiological arousal in your body – whether that’s your increased heart rate – or – whatever and then you try to logic your way into the experience but – it could be completely misattributed which is why it’s call the misattribution of arousal.”

“The formula goes like this: You think of two different factors. You think: What is the energy level behind what I’m experiencing? What is the pleasantness of it? And that’s it. Instead of focusing on like my hands or my heartbeat or whatever – take a moment – and tell me – on the energy scale are you feeling like super low? Negative energy? Neutral? Or positive? How about the pleasantness of it? Is it super-duper, is it neutral, or is it the most unpleasant feeling on Earth? If you were to invent a word to describe this feeling – what might that word be?”

Jen Casey: “You have to feel it to heal it.” Amira Ameen: “I would even go a step further – Name it to Tame it. If you don’t know what it is, you can’t begin to heal it.”

“You are not your brain. You are the CEO of your brain. You are so much more powerful than you give yourself credit for. You are the controller of this beautiful organism.”

“Life shifting trauma is what *wakes* a lot of people up.”

“Talk to yourself in the third person. When you talk to yourself in the third person, your brain thinks that somebody else is talking to you. Because its not our natural state to talk to ourselves in the third person. We live in the “I, I, I” and “Me, Me, Me.” Consider this: We are much kinder to our friends, than we are to ourselves. Treat yourself with the same kindness but do it in the third person so that your brain accepts it as somebody else. What would you say to your best friend? Say it to yourself!”

“Change happens to the world, when you first change within.”

“I ask myself two questions when it comes to social media: Is this helping me grow? Is this making me feel good? If it isn’t helping me grow, and it isn’t making me feel good – then – there is no place for it.”

“I grant you permission to let go of the excess.”

“It is not selfish to put yourself first.”