Dr. Paul Conti

That's not because that person dislikes them.

The person's trying to keep herself safe,

So I'm going to avoid people where they would judge me and laugh at me.

We're trying to keep ourselves safe.

And very often that we're going to imagine everything that could go wrong in the future and we're going to plan for it and we're going to prevent it in the present.

We do that to try and keep ourselves safe, but it creates endless misery.

And to live our lives in the present while being cognizant that we're moving towards a future and we want to be healthy and strive, it's a lot of work.

Which is why, of course we have feelings and of course we make mistakes and of course we get confused.

It is kind of like being strapped to the front of that fast car that is then accelerating.

Like it's really, really hard and it warrants the time and the effort and the energy involved.

that we would put into ourselves.

And people will sometimes say, well, an hour a week of therapy, or I'm going to write about myself for an hour a week.

So it's a lot of time.

But it's our lives, right?

Just like saying, well, 45 minutes a day in the gym, it could be a lot of time.

It's our lives, right?

It's our minds and our bodies, which really are one thing.

And we're worth the time, the energy, the attention for ourselves.

And of course, lo and behold, when we're taking care of ourselves that way,

We're better for the people we love.