“Ego-identification with things creates attachment to things, which in turn creates our consumer society and economic structures where the only measure of progress is always more. The unchecked striving for more, for endless growth, is a dysfunction and a disease. It is the same dysfunction the cancerous cell manifests, whose only goal is to multiply itself, unaware that it is bringing about its own destruction by destroying the organism of which it is a part. Some economists are so attached to the notion of growth that they can't let go of that word, so they refer to recession as a time of "negative growth".”
― A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
― A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
“If you hold back on the emotions--if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them--you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid. You're afraid of the pain, you're afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails. But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your heard even, you experience them fully and completely.”
― Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson
― Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson
“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”
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“When you come out of the grips of a depression there is an incredible relief, but not one you feel allowed to celebrate. Instead, the feeling of victory is replaced with anxiety that it will happen again, and with shame and vulnerability when you see how your illness affected your family, your work, everything left untouched while you struggled to survive. We come back to life thinner, paler, weaker … but as survivors. Survivors who don’t get pats on the back from coworkers who congratulate them on making it. Survivors who wake to more work than before because their friends and family are exhausted from helping them fight a battle they may not even understand. I hope to one day see a sea of people all wearing silver ribbons as a sign that they understand the secret battle, and as a celebration of the victories made each day as we individually pull ourselves up out of our foxholes to see our scars heal, and to remember what the sun looks like.”
― Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things
― Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things
“There is no standard normal. Normal is subjective. There are seven billion versions of normal on this planet.”
― Reasons to Stay Alive
― Reasons to Stay Alive
Brenda’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Brenda’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Brenda
Lists liked by Brenda




























