Bessel van der Kolk Quotes
We start by establishing inner “islands of safety” within the body. This means helping patients identify parts of the body, postures, or movements where they can ground themselves whenever they feel stuck, terrified, or enraged. These parts usually lie outside the reach of the vagus nerve, which carries the messages of panic to the chest, abdomen, and throat, and they can serve as allies in integrating the trauma. I might ask a patient if her hands feel okay, and if she says yes, I’ll ask her to move them, exploring their lightness and warmth and flexibility.
Quotes to Explore
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I tend to love actors. I was trained as an actor first so I'm drawn to actors.
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I have my own people that make my clothes because it's hard for me to find stuff that fits.
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I can't understand why someone wouldn't have a degree of sympathy for people that had to flee their country, travel to try and find their home somewhere, and nobody wants them. How could you not be a little bit sympathetic?
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Acquaintances we meet, enjoy, and can easily leave behind; but friendship grows deep roots.
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We cannot control what emotions or circumstances we will experience next, but we can choose how we will respond to them.
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I know I'm not the greatest singer or dancer, but that doesn't interest me. I'm interested in being provocative and pushing people's buttons.
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The focus of subjectivity is a distorting mirror.
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Through affliction hath His light shone and His praise been bright unceasingly: this hath been His method through past ages and bygone times.
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The shining star in the world is Shanghai. That's what CEOs from big companies say - 'if I want mathematical analytical work done, it's done in China.'
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I'm still very aware of the violence in our culture, more so than other people. I know where it comes from when someone is trying to suppress someone else, sometimes they fight back.
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If he was a good man, how could he leave me? So he must not be a good man. But if he isn't good, then why does it hurt so much to lose him? Is it just my pride that's wounded?
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Anxiety grew, the fear that always comes when an established pattern falters.
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A liberal is one who says that it's all right for an 18-year-old girl to perform in a pornographic movie as long as she gets paid the minimum wage.
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To betray, you must first belong.
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Nobody is denying we should investigate and do what we can to prevent gun crime in our cities and towns. But, we should not scapegoat the American gun owner for complicated, cultural problems we are just beginning to understand.
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The Premier League is so difficult.
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There's nothing you could do to me, nothing you could take away from me that would make me feel like I wasn't going to be all right.
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In my opinion, the only real asset one has is one's reputation, right? I mean, any company and institution can go belly up at any time. But if you have a good reputation, you know, you can usually find somebody who can - who thinks they can use what you have to offer.
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I cried to my mother that I wanted to go to Hebrew school; I wanted Jewish friends. But when my mother took me, the kids there all knew each other, and somehow I was even more of an outcast.
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The mechanisms of vis medicatrix naturæ—the most healing power of nature—are so effective that most diseases are self-terminating.
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The way I see it, you should live everyday like its your birthday.
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The character we've always thought of as the Wicked Witch of the West is a green girl who's actually very good, misunderstood, and trying to make her way in the world. She's an outsider looking in, wanting to be loved. That's a universal experience that everyone's felt at some point in their lives.
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Football was my sport. I was fast. I was a free safety.
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We start by establishing inner “islands of safety” within the body. This means helping patients identify parts of the body, postures, or movements where they can ground themselves whenever they feel stuck, terrified, or enraged. These parts usually lie outside the reach of the vagus nerve, which carries the messages of panic to the chest, abdomen, and throat, and they can serve as allies in integrating the trauma. I might ask a patient if her hands feel okay, and if she says yes, I’ll ask her to move them, exploring their lightness and warmth and flexibility.
