【p54】
... What makes us smile from the inside is seeing something beautiful, or a memory that makes us laugh. This generally happens when there's nobody watching us. And at night, on our own, we might burst out laughing underneath the duvet, or roar with laughter in an empty room ... when we don't need to think about other people or anything else, that's when we wear our natural expressions.
【No.72】
The researchers concluded that it wasn't stress alone that was killing people. It was the combination of stress and the belief that stress is harmful.
【No.143】
The best way to manage stress isn't to reduce or avoid it, but rather to rethink and even embrace it.
So, my goal as a health psychologist has changed. I no longer want to make you better at stress. That is the promise of the new science of stress, and the purpose of this book.
【p10】
Pain lets you know when your physical safety and well-being are at risk. It motivates you to protect yourself when you are being harmed. And it helps you learn to avoid things that could harm you.
【p10】
When threat signals arrive in the area of your brain that first receives sensory information, the brain does a kind of appraisal. What's going on? How serious is this? Is this something I need to pay attention to? If the brain decides to pay attention to the incoming signals, the message gets sent to many other areas of the brain that can help you respond to an emergency. This network of brain areas has been called the "pain neuromatrix"(Melzack 2001), but you can think of it like a public address system. The information goes out to just about anyone who might need it or know what to do with it.
【p12】
It is this full set of protective brain responses - from the first pain sensations to problem solving, emotional suffering, stress response, and learnig - that creates your personal experience of pain. Far more than just a physical sensation, pain is one of the most complex of human experiences. This is why pain reaches into every aspect of your life, influencing how you think, feel, and act.