11 Mindful Quotes for Serenity and Clarity

So often we hear messages from society that we need to be fitter, prettier, more youthful, wealthier and to reach some future state of being in order to be happy but the truth is that peace and contentment are available to you in the here and now.

It takes committed insight and intention to connect with life as it is and to see reality clearly rather than your distortions of it. Mindfulness helps you cultivate an awareness and peace with life, in the present moment, as it is. It releases you from the patterns of negative thinking, feeling, and behaving that cause you pain and suffering and helps you reconnect to yourself, to become awakened to serenity and calmness that sustains you throughout life’s inevitable ups and downs.

Below are 11 Mindful Quotes for Serenity and Clarity

“Gratitude reminds us to be like plants, which turn toward, not away from the light.”

— Mary Jane Ryan

“We find out what we really value in the daily decisions that we make, so we might do well to stop occasionally and respectfully ask ourselves: What truly matters? Asked regularly and fearlessly, it is the single question that will help you get to the heart of your life.”

— James E. Ryan

“When you know who you are; when your mission is clear and you burn with the inner fire of unbreakable will, no cold can touch your heart; no deluge can dampen your purpose. You know that you are alive.”

— Chief Seattle

“When we let go of the need to prove ourselves, nothing and no one can disturb the quiet and peace of our minds.”

— Iyanla Vanzant

“Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better than the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.”

— Oprah Winfrey

“If we can dance like fire, we’d never get burned.”

— Ben Harper

“You are worthy. You are not broken; you are, in fact, beautifully whole. No matter what you’ve been through, you have the power to write a brave, new ending. It will take work. It will take courage. But healing is possible, and the gift of your trauma is that it creates resiliency and reveals your strength.”

— Liz Arch

“Mindfulness is being aware of, or bringing attention to, this moment in time, on purpose and with intention. So w hen we go for a mindful walk and really notice every little detail around us — trees, cars, little flowers growing out of small cracks, a pretty cat crossing the road — rather than creating “To Do Lists,” we may feel truly enchanted with life.”

— Patrizia Collard

“Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

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psychologist in mclean, tysons corner, merrifield, falls church, arlington and vienna, va

Victoria Chialy Smith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist serving the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. She provides individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness and acceptance based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help!

17 Quotes on Love and Letting Go That'll Help You Move Forward and Heal Again

We all experience pain and heartbreak in our lives. It can be difficult to let go of past hurt and disappointments. With depression, we are often stuck in the past, and with anxiety, we are often worried about the future. The key to happiness is letting go and living in the present to feel more peace and enjoyment in life. Below are 17 letting go quotes that’ll help you move forward through difficult times and heal again.

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.”

— Hermann Hesse

“In the process of letting go you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself.”

— Deepak Chopra

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

— Alexander Graham Bell

“There’s an important difference between giving up and letting go.”

— Jessica Hatchigan

“ When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need. ”

— Lao Tzu

“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure. ”

— Oprah Winfrey

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”

— JK Rowling

“We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

— Joseph Campbell

“People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar. ”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.”

— Steve Maraboli

“When we think we have been hurt by someone in the past, we build up defenses to protect ourselves from being hurt in the future. So the fearful past causes a fearful future and the past and future become one. We cannot love when we feel fear…. When we release the fearful past and forgive everyone, we will experience total love and oneness with all.”

— Gerald G. Jampolsky

“If you didn’t love him, this never would have happened. But you did. And accepting that love and everything that followed it is part of letting it go.”

— Sarah Dessen

“Let go of certainty. The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.”

— Tony Schwartz

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that’s all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.”

— Stephen King

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”

— Ann Landers

“Most things are forgotten over time. Even the war itself, the life-and-death struggle people went through is now like something from the distant past. We’re so caught up in our everyday lives that events of the past are no longer in orbit around our minds. There are just too many things we have to think about everyday, too many new things we have to learn. But still, no matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away. They remain with us forever, like a touchstone.”

— Haruki Murakami

“Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.”

— Deborah Reber

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Victoria Chialy Smith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist serving the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. She provides individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness and acceptance based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help!

18 Beautiful Quotes About Intimacy and Love

Intimacy is often confused with sex, but in actuality it involves feeling deeply emotionally connected with another person and a desire to be deeply known. Intimacy is not something achieved quickly, but rather something that continues to mature and develop over time, like a garden or fine wine. Although intimacy is something many of us long for, not all of us find or experience it in our relationships. This is because intimacy involves being vulnerable — taking emotional risks and working through the fear of allowing another person to see you as you truly are. It involves trust, caring, acceptance, safety, and connection. To nurture intimacy is to be willing to show all sides of yourself, to embrace differences, to grow from conflict, and to choose our partners — the individuals we share our hearts with — wisely.

Below are 18 quotes on intimacy and love demonstrating their beauty and timelessness.

“It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being.”

— John Joseph Powell, The Secret of Staying in Love

“I wonder if this is how people always get close: They heal each other’s wounds; they repair the broken skin.”

— Lauren Oliver

“Most people are slow to champion love because they fear the transformation it brings into their lives. And make no mistake about it: love does take over and transform the schemes and operations of our egos in a very mighty way.”

— Aberjhani

“True love is not a hide and seek game: in true love, both lovers seek each other.”

— ichael Bassey Johnson

“The deepest moments of intimacy occur when you’re not talking.”

— Patricia Love

“Can the purpose of a relationship be to trigger our wounds? In a way, yes, because that is how healing happens; darkness must be exposed before it can be transformed. The purpose of an intimate relationship is not that it be a place where we can hide from our weaknesses, but rather where we can safely let them go. It takes strength of character to truly delve into the mystery of an intimate relationship, because it takes the strength to endure a kind of psychic surgery, an emotional and psychological and even spiritual initiation into the higher Self. Only then can we know an enchantment that lasts.”

— Marianne Williamson

“They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered.”

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Love is like breathing. You take it in and let it out.”

— Wally Lamb

“Intimacy is a totally different dimension. It is allowing the other to come into you, to see you as you see yourself.”

— Osho

“Real intimacy is a sacred experience. It never exposes its secret trust and belonging to the voyeuristic eye of a neon culture. Real intimacy is of the soul, and the soul is reserved.”

— John O'Donohue

“Intimacy is not something that just happens between two people; it is a way of being alive. At every moment, we are choosing either to reveal ourselves or to protect ourselves, to value ourselves or to diminish ourselves, to tell the truth or to hide. To dive into life or to avoid it. Intimacy is making the choice to be connected to, rather than isolated from, our deepest truth at that moment.”

— Geneen Roth

“It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy—it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”

— Jane Austen

“If you love a person and live the whole life with him or with her, a great intimacy will grow and love will have deeper and deeper revelations to make to you. It is not possible if you go on changing partners very often. It is as if you go on changing a tree from one place to another, then another; then it never grows roots anywhere. To grow roots, a tree needs to remain in one place. Then it goes deeper; then it becomes stronger. Intimacy is good, and to remain in one commitment is beautiful, but the basic necessity is love. If a tree is rooted in a place where there are only rocks and they are killing the tree, then it is better to remove it. Then don’t insist that it should remain in the one place. Remain true to life – remove the tree, because now it is going against life.”

— Osho

“If fear is the great enemy of intimacy, love is its true friend.”

— Henri Nouwen

“Real intimacy is only possible to the degree that we can be honest about what we are doing and feeling.”

— Joyce Brothers

“My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.”

— Maya Angelou

“Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.”

— Ann Landers

“To grow in our ability to love ourselves we need to receive love as well.”

— John Gray

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Therapist in mclean, tysons corner, merrifield, falls church, arlington and vienna

Victoria Chialy Smith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist serving the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. She provides individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness and acceptance based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help!

18 Quotes to Inspire Self-Kindness and Self-Compassion

Sometimes it’s hard to accept who we are. We struggle with feeling comfortable in our own skin. We’re hard on ourselves and can’t help but see all the flaws. What’s needed is compassion — not only for others, but ourselves. Here are 18 quotes to inspire self-compassion and peace.

“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.”

— Christopher Germer

“You’ve been criticising yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”

— Louise L. Hay

“Being human is not about being any one particular way; it is about being as life creates you—with your own particular strengths and weaknesses, gifts and challenges, quirks and oddities.”

— Kristin Neff

“Painful feelings are, by their very nature, temporary. They will weaken over time as long as we don’t prolong or amplify them through resistance or avoidance. The only way to eventually free ourselves from debilitating pain, therefore, is to be with it as it is. The only way out is through.”

— Kristin Neff

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”

— Joseph Campbell

“This is a moment of suffering. Suffering is part of life. May I be kind to myself in this moment. May I give myself the compassion I need.”

— Kristin Neff

“Self-care is not selfish or self-indulgent. We cannot nurture others from a dry well. We need to take care of our own needs first, so that we can give from our surplus, our abundance. When we nurture others from a place of fullness, we feel renewed instead of taken advantage of.”

— Jennifer Louden

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

— Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

“It is a beautiful experience being with ourselves at a level of complete acceptance. When that begins to happen, when you give up resistance and needing to be perfect, a peace will come over you as you have never known.”

— Ruth Fishel

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.”

— Dalai Lama

“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.”

— Christopher Germer

“It’s like a mother, when the baby is crying, she picks up the baby and she holds the baby tenderly in her arms. Your pain, your anxiety is your baby. You have to take care of it. You have to go back to yourself, to recognize the suffering in you, embrace the suffering, and you get a relief.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

“Talk to yourself as you would someone you love.”

— Brene Brown

“If you do not respect your own wishes, no one else will. You will simply attract people who disrespect you as much as you do.”

— Vironika Tugaleva

“To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight.”

— e.e. cummings

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”

— Jack Kornfield

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I found in my research that the biggest reason people aren’t more self-compassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent. They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line. Most people have gotten it wrong because our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.”

— Kristen Neff

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Therapist in mclean, tysons corner, merrifield, falls church, arlington and vienna

Victoria Chialy Smith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist serving the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. She provides individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness and acceptance based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help!

19 Powerful Brene Brown Quotes on Embracing Vulnerability, Love, and Belonging

Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor whose work on vulnerability, shame, empathy has inspired millions of people to embrace imperfection, to hope and love wholeheartedly. Her words are especially powerful for those of us who never quite comfortable in our own skin, who feel as if we have to ‘hustle’ for love or worthiness. If you’ve ever felt this way — felt as if you’re never quite enough — read her words and be reminded that we’re all in this together. You’re beautiful in your vulnerability. You’re worthy. You belong.

Brene Brown Quotes on Vulnerability, Love, and Belonging

“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”

— Brené Brown

“We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.

Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.”

— Brené Brown

“You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.”

— Brené Brown

“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.”

— Brené Brown

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”

— Brené Brown

“Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection.”

— Brené Brown

“We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.”

— Brené Brown

“The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.”

— Brené Brown

“If you trade your authenticity for safety, you may experience the following: anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, rage, blame, resentment, and inexplicable grief.”

— Brené Brown

“To love someone fiercely, to believe in something with your whole heart, to celebrate a fleeting moment in time, to fully engage in a life that doesn’t come with guarantees – these are risks that involve vulnerability and often pain. But, I’m learning that recognizing and leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability teaches us how to live with joy, gratitude and grace.”

— Brené Brown

“I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.”

— Brené Brown

“Numb the dark and you numb the light.”

— Brené Brown

“Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don’t belong. You will always find it because you’ve made that your mission. Stop scouring people’s faces for evidence that you’re not enough. You will always find it because you’ve made that your goal. True belonging and self-worth are not goods; we don’t negotiate their value with the world. The truth about who we are lives in our hearts. Our call to courage is to protect our wild heart against constant evaluation, especially our own. No one belongs here more than you.”

— Brené Brown

“Just because someone isn’t willing or able to love us, it doesn’t mean that we are unlovable.”

— Brené Brown

“True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.”

— Brené Brown

“The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect.”

— Brené Brown

“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.”

— Brené Brown

“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness–it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.”

— Brené Brown

“Imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we’re all in this together.”

— Brené Brown

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Therapist in mclean, tysons corner, merrifield, falls church, arlington and vienna

Victoria Chialy Smith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist serving the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. She provides individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness and acceptance based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help!

16 Calming Quotes to Relieve Stress and Anxiety

We all experience stress and anxiety in our lives, but when it begins to interfere with the quality of our lives, it’s time to let go. We worry about our relationships. We get anxious about work and what colleagues think of us. We worry about all that we say or do — things we’ve done in the past, things we might do in the future. Soon, many of us get caught into this trap of worry that we forget to live our lives as it was intended. We lose our flow.

So let go of all the ways you thought life would unfold. Let go of the struggle and fear. Let go and find a place of peace and transformation. Below are 16 stress-relieving quotes and perspectives to help.

“In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived. How well we have loved. How well we have learned to let go.”

— Jack Kornfield

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.”

— Henry Miller

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

— Lao Tzu

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

— Confucius

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.”

— Proverb

“Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.”

— Wayne W. Dyer

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

— William James

“Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.”

— Hans Selye

“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

— Joseph Campbell

“There are times when we stop, we sit still. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.”

— James Carroll

“Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”

— Hermann Hesse

“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”

— Oprah Winfrey

“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”

— James Allen

“To experience peace doesn’t mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life.”

— Jill Bolte Taylor

“The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present. ”

— Eckhart Tolle

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clinical psychologist in mclean, tysons corner, merrifield, falls church, arlington and vienna

Victoria Chialy Smith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist serving the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. She provides individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness and acceptance based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help!

29 Life Changing Quotes from Eckhart Tolle to Help You Cultivate Peace and Awaken to Your Life's Purpose

Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher with multiple New York Times bestselling books, including The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. What is powerful about his books is the element of his own personal lived experience, in which he discusses his many years spent in a deep depression to a state of inner transformation and peace. Although our culture often promotes happiness as the result of reaching towards future goals, Eckhart Tolle teaches that happiness is available in the present and now, and that in fact, the gift of the present moment is all that really exists.

On the Present Moment

“The past has no power over the present moment.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love - even the most simple action.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Focus attention on the feeling inside you. Know that it is the pain-body. Accept that it is there. Don’t think about it - don’t let the feeling turn into thinking. Don’t judge or analyze. Don’t make an identity for yourself out of it. Stay present, and continue to be the observer of what is happening inside you. Become aware not only of the emotional pain but also of “the one who observes,” the silent watcher. This is the power of the Now, the power of your own conscious presence. Then see what happens.”

— Eckhart Tolle

On Anxiety and Peace

“Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Is there a difference between happiness and inner peace? Yes. Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive; inner peace does not.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“All the things that truly matter, beauty, love, creativity, joy and inner peace arise from beyond the mind.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Whenever you become anxious or stressed, outer purpose has taken over, and you lost sight
of your inner purpose. You have forgotten that your state of consciousness is primary, all else secondary.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“In today’s rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just Being.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Don’t look for peace. Don’t look for any other state than the one you are in now; otherwise, you will set up inner conflict and unconscious resistance. Forgive yourself for not being at peace. The moment you completely accept your non-peace, your non-peace becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender”

— Eckhart Tolle

“With stillness comes the benediction of Peace.”

— Eckhart Tolle

On Change

“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”

— Eckhart Tolle

On Gratitude

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“The significance is hiding in the insignificant. Appreciate everything.”

— Eckhart Tolle

On Awakening to Yourself

“What a liberation to realize that the “voice in my head” is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Give up defining yourself - to yourself or to others. You won’t die. You will come to life. And don’t be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don’t be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to “die before you die” —- and find that there is no death.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“When you don’t cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life that was lost a long time ago when humanity, instead of using thought, became possessed by thought.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Even a stone, and more easily a flower or a bird, could show you the way back to God, to the Source, to yourself. When you look at it or hold it & let it be without imposing a word of mental label on it, a sense of awe, of wonder, arises within you. Its essence silently communicates itself to you and reflects your own essence back to you.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“You are here to enable the divine purpose of the Universe to unfold. That is how important you are!”

— Eckhart Tolle

“Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free.”

— Eckhart Tolle

“To recognize one’s own insanity is, of course, the arising of sanity, the beginning of healing and transcendence.”

— Eckhart Tolle

mclean psychologist, therapist in tysons corner, merrifield, falls church, arlington and vienna

Victoria Chialy Smith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist serving the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. She provides individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help!

15 Beautiful Quotes to Inspire Gratitude

There is power in gratitude. Life gets busy and we forget what we have. Gratitude recenters us, grounds us, focuses us on the richness in our lives.

Often times, its the simple things that can bring us joy. A smile we are grateful for. Ice cream sorbet on a hot summer’s night. Time spent with a friend. A hot shower at the end of a long day.

The truth is, we need to make gratitude a priority. It’s easy to get lost in doing that we forget to simply be. Moreover, gratitude invites other positives in your life, such as greater connection with others, kindness, improved resilience, decreased anxiety, increased self esteem and spirituality, improved sleep, and happiness.

Here are 15 beautiful gratitude quotes to help you reflect and to inspire you.

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

— Marcel Proust

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet. ”

— Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

“Be grateful for what you already have while you pursue your goals. If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.”

— Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”

— A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”

— Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

“Forget yesterday - it has already forgotten you. Don’t sweat tomorrow - you haven’t even met. Instead, open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift - today.”

— Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”

— Maya Angelou

“You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.”

— Kahill Gibran, The Prophet

“Gratitude opens the door to the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.”

— Deepak Chopra

“The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see.”

— Mary Davis

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”

— Robert Brault

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.”

— Melody Beattie

“When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.”

— Kristin Armstrong

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”

— William Arthur Ward

“The real gift of gratitude is that the more grateful you are, the more present you become.”

— Robert Holden

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clinical psychologist in mclean, tysons corner, merrifield, falls church, arlington and vienna

Victoria Chialy Smith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist providing individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments, and serves the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help develop the best treatment for you!

15 Inspirational Mental Health Quotes That Will Help You Feel Less Alone

15 Inspirational Mental Health Quotes That Will Help You Feel Less Alone

It’s hard to live with depression, anxiety, and stress and it can feel lonely at times, as if others cant or dont understand. But the truth is that there are people out there who do, who have been through their own journeys and struggles. Here are some quotes that will help you feel less alone.

“I fight for my health every day in ways most people don’t understand. I’m not lazy. I’m a warrior.”

“Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.”

— Rudyard Kipling

“Failure is a great teacher and, if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer.”

— Oprah Winfrey

“If you stumble, make it part of the dance.”

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”

— Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

“Your illness is not your identity. Your chemistry is not your character.”

— Pastor Rick Warren

“Even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there.”

— Charlie from “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

“’I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.
‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’”

— J.R.R. Tolkien from “The Fellowship of the Ring“

“You are valuable just because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are.”

— Max Lucado

“In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.”

— Albert Camus

“It’s up to you today to start making healthy choices. Not choices that are just healthy for your body, but healthy for your mind.”

— Steve Maraboli

“One of the things that baffles me (and there are quite a few) is how there can be so much lingering stigma with regards to mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder. In my opinion, living with manic depression takes a tremendous amount of balls. Not unlike a tour of Afghanistan (though the bombs and bullets, in this case, come from the inside). At times, being bipolar can be an all-consuming challenge, requiring a lot of stamina and even more courage, so if you’re living with this illness and functioning at all, it’s something to be proud of, not ashamed of.
They should issue medals along with the steady stream of medication.”

— Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking

“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”

— John Green, Turtles All the Way Down

“There is no standard normal. Normal is subjective. There are seven billion versions of normal on this planet.”

— Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive

“But no matter how much evil I see, I think it’s important for everyone to understand that there is much more light than darkness.”

— Robert Uttaro

“Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them.”

— Joubert Botha

“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.”

— Amy March

Which of the quotes was your favorite? Did any of them resonate with you? Let us know in the comments below; we’d love to hear from you.

therapist serving mclean, tysons corner, merrifield, falls church, arlington and vienna

Victoria Chialy Smith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist providing individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments, and serves the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help develop the best treatment for you!

12 Quotes That Describe What It's Like to Live with Bipolar Disorder

It can be tough to live with bipolar disorder, which makes one prone to moods so incredibly varied, nuanced, and intense that most humans do not experience. Moods can be exhilarating and intoxicating, and yet also darkly devastating — sometimes all at once. This is why bipolar is somewhat of a misleading term — it implies that a person experiences two extremes of emotion, when the reality is that moods occur in different subtleties in their nature.

I like to think of emotions like a color palette — different colors can be mixed to create various shades and tones of mood. With bipolar, this ability is heightened so much so that moods themselves can be difficult to survive.

So what’s it like to live with bipolar disorder? Why is it associated with such a high rate of suicide? What are the struggles individuals with bipolar disorder face every day? What are some of the highs and lows and why is it so strongly associated with creativity?

Below are 12 quotes that describe different sides of bipolar disorder.

“I have a chemical imbalance that, in its most extreme state, will lead me to a mental hospital… I outlasted my problems. I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that. I survived that, I’m still surviving it, but bring it on.”

— Carrie Fisher

“I was actually manic a lot of the times that I would take on workloads, and I would say, ‘Yes, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.’ I was conquering the world, but then it would all come crashing down and I would be more depressed than ever.”

— Demi Lovato

“When under the strain of bipolar’s strongest symptoms, we certainly can make selfish decisions, but that doesn’t make us selfish people. In fact, because we have struggled and known such depths of darkness, our compassion runs deeper.”

— Lyss Trayers

“There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness, and terror involved in this kind of madness. When you’re high it’s tremendous. The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like shooting stars, and you follow them until you find better and brighter ones. Shyness goes, the right words and gestures are suddenly there, the power to captivate others a felt certainty. There are interests found in uninteresting people. Sensuality is pervasive and the desire to seduce and be seduced irresistible. Feelings of ease, intensity, power, well-being, financial omnipotence, and euphoria pervade one’s marrow. But, somewhere, this changes. The fast ideas are far too fast, and there are far too many; overwhelming confusion replaces clarity. Memory goes. Humor and absorption on friends’ faces are replaced by fear and concern. Everything previously moving with the grain is now against— you are irritable, angry, frightened, uncontrollable, and enmeshed totally in the blackest caves of the mind. You never knew those caves were there. It will never end, for madness carves its own reality.”

— Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

“Bipolar robs you of that which is you. It can take from you the very core of your being and replace it with something that is completely opposite of who and what you truly are. Because my bipolar went untreated for so long, I spent many years looking in the mirror and seeing a person I did not recognize or understand. Not only did bipolar rob me of my sanity, but it robbed me of my ability to see beyond the space it dictated me to look. I no longer could tell reality from fantasy, and I walked in a world no longer my own.”

— Alyssa Reyans, Letters from a Bipolar Mother

“Soon madness has worn you down. It’s easier to do what it says than argue. In this way, it takes over your mind. You no longer know where it ends and you begin. You believe anything it says. You do what it tells you, no matter how extreme or absurd. If it says you’re worthless, you agree. You plead for it to stop. You promise to behave. You are on your knees before it, and it laughs.”

— Marya Hornbacher, Madness: A Bipolar Life

“She was a free bird one minute: queen of the world and laughing. The next minute she would be in tears like a porcelain angel, about to teeter, fall and break. She never cried because she was afraid that something ‘would’ happen; she would cry because she feared something that could render the world more beautiful, ‘would not’ happen.”

— Roman Payne, The Wanderess

“Manic-depression distorts moods and thoughts, incites dreadful behaviors, destroys the basis of rational thought, and too often erodes the desire and will to live. It is an illness that is biological in its origins, yet one that feels psychological in the experience of it, an illness that is unique in conferring advantage and pleasure, yet one that brings in its wake almost unendurable suffering and, not infrequently, suicide.”

— Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

“Compared to bipolar’s magic, reality seems a raw deal. It’s not just the boredom that makes recovery so difficult, it’s the slow dawning pain that comes with sanity - the realization of illnesss, the humiliating scenes, the blown money and friendships and confidence. Depression seems almost inevitable. The pendulum swings back from transcendence in shards, a bloody, dangerous mess. Crazy high is better than crazy low. So we gamble, dump the pills, and stick it to the control freaks and doctors. They don’t understand, we say. They just don’t get it. They’ll never be artists.”

— David Lovelace, Scattershot: My Bipolar Family

“I know the empathy borne of despair; I know the fluidity of thought, the expansive, even beautiful, mind that hypomania brings, and I know this is quicksilver and precious and often it’s poison. There has always existed a sort of psychic butcher who works the scales of transcendence, who weighs out the bloody cost of true art.”

— David Lovelace, Scattershot: My Bipolar Family

“I mean, that’s at least in part why I ingested chemical waste - it was a kind of desire to abbreviate myself. To present the CliffNotes of the emotional me, as opposed to the twelve-column read.

I used to refer to my drug use as putting the monster in the box. I wanted to be less, so I took more - simple as that. Anyway, I eventually decided that the reason Dr. Stone had told me I was hypomanic was that he wanted to put me on medication instead of actually treating me. So I did the only rational thing I could do in the face of such as insult - I stopped talking to Stone, flew back to New York, and married Paul Simon a week later.”

— Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking

“Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.”

— Vincent van Gogh

The symptoms that go along with bipolar disorder can make it a very difficult illness to cope with. Not only can it be challenging for individuals, but for their loved ones as well. If you feel as if you may be experiencing symptoms, know that you are not alone and that help is out there. If you’re looking for ways to find a psychologist in your local area, check out my blog post on How to Find the Right Psychologist For You.

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bipolar treatment and management in mclean, falls church, arlington and vienna

Victoria Chialy Smith, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist providing individual therapy to children, teens, and adults. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness based therapies, and other premier evidence-based treatments, and serves the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help!

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