Andrew Weil > Quotes

“I think instead [of happiness] we should be working for contentment... an inner sense of fulfillment that's relatively independent of external circumstances.”
― Andrew Weil

“Happiness is a skill. It requires effort and time.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing

“The notion that a human being should be constantly happy is a uniquely modern, uniquely American, uniquely destructive idea.”
― Andrew Weil

“I believe that it may be normal, healthy, and even productive to experience mild to moderate depression from time to time as part of the variable emotional spectrum, either as an appropriate response to situations or as a way of turning inward and mentally chewing over problems to find solutions.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing

“My personal opinion is that the neutral position on the mood spectrum—what I called emotional sea level—is not
happiness but rather contentment and the calm acceptance that is the goal of many kinds of spiritual practice.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing

“Among other things, neuroplasticity means that emotions such as happiness and compassion can be cultivated in much the same way that a person can learn through repetition to play golf and basketball or master a musical instrument, and that such practice changes the activity and physical aspects of specific brain areas.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing

“People who are contented and serene sleep well. They fall asleep easily, stay asleep, and wake refreshed. Conversely, people who are anxious, stressed, or depressed do not sleep well, and chronic insomnia is strongly associated with mood disorders. These are clear correlations, but what is cause and what is effect is not clear. Most experts agree that sleep and mood are closely related, that healthy sleep can enhance emotional well-being, while insufficient quantity or quality of sleep can adversely affect it.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing

“Any drug can be used successfully, no matter how bad it's reputation, and any drug can be abused, no matter how accepted it is. There are no good or bad rugs; there are only good and bad relationships with drugs.”
― Andrew Weil, M.D.

“If you want to be in optimum emotional health, realize that social isolation stands between you and it. Reach out to others. Join groups—to drum, meditate, sing, sew, read, whatever. Find communities—to garden, do service work, travel, whatever. We humans are social animals. Spontaneous happiness is incompatible with social isolation. Period.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Happiness

“It is unrealistic to want to be happy all the time.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing

“I do not claim to have attained optimum emotional well-being. Actually, I think that may be a lifetime goal. For me it’s an ongoing process that requires awareness, knowledge, and practice. I do know what good emotional health feels like, and that motivates me to keep at the practice.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing

“In my view, prescribing antidepressant drugs is too often a quick and easy substitute for developing treatment plans that address the totality of health concerns and lifestyle factors that have an impact on wellness, including emotional wellness.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing

“But hard does not mean depressed, just as easy does not mean content.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Happiness

“I have always believed that the primary function of doctors should be to teach people how not to get sick in the first place. The word “doctor” comes from the Latin word for “teacher.” Teaching prevention should be primary; treatment of existing disease, secondary. I”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing: How to Discover and Enhance Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself

“I am uneasy about the suppressive nature of conventional medicine. If you look at the names of the most popular categories of drugs in use today, you will find that most of them begin with the prefix “anti.” We use antispasmodics and antihypertensives, antianxiety agents and antidepressants, antihistamines, antiarrhythmics, antitussives, antipyretics, and anti-inflammatories, as well as beta blockers and H2-receptor antagonists. This is truly antimedicine—medicine that is, in essence, counteractive and suppressive. What”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing: How to Discover and Enhance Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself

“What part of ourselves needs to evaporate in order to concentrate our essence? What do we have to let go?”
― Andrew Weil, Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being

“Grieving itself is a variety of healing, an operation of the healing system.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing: How to Discover and Enhance Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself

“Carbohydrate density is simple to calculate -- just divide the quantity of carbohydrate in food by the weight of the food. The more carbs packed into a given gram of food, the higher its carbohydrate density.”
― Andrew Weil

“mente es una influencia importante en la curación, para mejorar o para empeorar.”
― Andrew Weil, La curación espontánea: Spontaneous Healing - Spanish-Language Edition

“Ginger modulates this system in ways that reduce abnormal inflammation and clotting. It may be as effective as, but much less toxic than, some of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that are now in such widespread use, because ginger protects the lining of the stomach instead of damaging it.”
― Andrew Weil, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health: A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of Your Body's Natural Healing Power

“Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine”
― Andrew Weil, You Can't Afford to Get Sick: Your Guide to Optimum Health and Health Care

“One of the findings of the landmark Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey of almost thirty thousand Americans, published in 2000, was that those who give contributions of time or money are 42 percent more likely to be happy than those who don’t give.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Happiness

“la mente es una influencia importante en la curación, para mejorar o para empeorar.”
― Andrew Weil, La curación espontánea: Spontaneous Healing - Spanish-Language Edition

“the 2012 annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers lists OTC cough-cold medications among the top three products associated with fatality in children under age five.”
― Andrew Weil, Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own

“It's not just what substances you put on your skin. Inappropriate inflammation is rooted in diet, how you handle stress, how you rest, and your exposure to environmental toxins. - llskin.jp”
― Andrew Weil

“Buy whole organic flaxseeds at a natural foods store. Keep them in the refrigerator, and grind a half-cup or so at a time, using a blender or coffee grinder. Ground flax has a nutty taste that is quite good added to cereals, salads, potatoes, rice, or cooked vegetables. A tablespoon of the meal once a day will give you a good ration of omega-3s.”
― Andrew Weil, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health: A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of Your Body's Natural Healing Power

“Andrographis (Andrographis paniculata), an herb commonly used in traditional Indian medicine (Ayurveda), has been shown to reduce symptoms both alone and when combined with another herb, eleuthero (Eleutherococcus senticosus). Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus), obtained from the root of a plant in the pea family, has been used for centuries in China to ward off respiratory infections. I recommend it preventively throughout cold and flu season, especially for people who tend to catch “everything going around.”
― Andrew Weil, Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own

“Are fish eaters healthier because of the fish they eat or because of what they don’t eat?”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing: How to Discover and Enhance Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself

“American medicine has no specific treatments for tinnitus, no understanding of its cause, and little success in alleviating it. My German friend thinks tinnitus results from chronic muscle tension in the head and neck, often associated with poor posture and stress.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing: How to Discover and Enhance Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself

“One who contains content, remains content.”
― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Happiness