Laura

“One feels such love for the little ones, such anticipation that all that is lovely in life will be known by them, such fondness for that set of attributes manifested uniquely in each: mannerisms of bravado, of vulnerability, habits of speech and mispronouncement and so forth; the smell of the hair and head, the feel of the tiny hand in yours—and then the little one is gone! Taken! One is thunderstruck that such a brutal violation has occurred in what had previously seemed a benevolent world. From nothingness, there arose great love; now, its source nullified, that love, searching and sick, converts to the most abysmal suffering imaginable.”
― George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo

“And here lies the essential difference between Stoicism and the modern-day 'cult of optimism.' For the Stoics, the ideal state of mind was tranquility, not the excitable cheer that positive thinkers usually seem to mean when they use the word, 'happiness.' And tranquility was to be achieved not by strenuously chasing after enjoyable experiences, but by cultivating a kind of calm indifference towards one's circumstances.”
― Oliver Burkeman, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking

“Siegel, who codirects UCLA’s Mindsight Institute and is author of the scientifically acclaimed books "The Developing Mind: and "The Mindful Brain," broke down the essential sequence of surprise as expectation + violation of expectation. He quoted Jerome Bruner, one of the fathers of cognitive psychology, who said “narrative emerges from violations to expectations.”
― Peter Guber, Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story

“If your audience has a negative story about you or your product or business, you’d better confront it. As famed author Salman Rushdie once said, “Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, the power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts.” Once you lose control of your own story, you’ll need double the muscle to get that power back.”
― Peter Guber, Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story