At random meetings or readings,

A phrase, sometimes, resonates in us,

Finding an echo, a conjecture,

Who, all-de-go, pick locks.

You will find below a collection of these phrases which open the mind, invite reflection and provoke clicks around self-destructive behaviors and addictions.

“You never know what is enough until you have known what is more than enough ». William Blake

« As long as a human being derives more pleasure than pain from a behavior, he repeats it, however destructive it may be. » Gravelaine F

« Self-assertion goes through the discovery that it is possible to say no, quietly, without getting angry, and without taking the risk of being rejected. ». Gravelaine F.

« We persuade ourselves better by the reasons we ourselves have found than by those which have come from the minds of others ». Pascal B.

« The mere anticipation of a situation deemed unpleasant can lead to a feeling of unease, even before the subject has to actually face it. ». Moch-Sibony A.

« Substances that alter states of consciousness and mental perceptions multiply individuality in various ways: they initiate knowledge of another world, increase individual performance, allow one to explore one’s field of consciousness, anesthetize anxiety , promote social exchange by disinhibiting, but they risk paying for themselves by a retrenchment in oneself: shelter or private hell. They constitute contradictory experiences: they produce the individual, they destroy him ». Ehrenberg A.

« By putting oneself in a situation of despair, one tries, according to unconscious mechanisms and motives, to attract pity and sympathy without having to ask for it. The guilt finds its account if we consider that a culprit is precisely the one who does not have the right to ask or to demand. ». Pringent Yves

« The justification for many marital infidelities rests on the desire – and often the illusion – to reestablish, through a new state of love, the reciprocal idealization of the initial state which is no more than a memory for the spouses who have suffered the ravages of time ». Green André

« The regret that men have for the bad use of time that they have already lived does not always lead them to make better use of what remains to them. ». La Bruyère

« We are all capable of relieving our tensions by taking action when circumstances are particularly stressful (we eat, drink, smoke more than usual, etc.). But those who continually use action as a defense against mental pain (when thinking and mental elaboration would be more appropriate) run the risk of increasing psychosomatic vulnerability. ». McDougall Joyce

« Ironically enough, just as fear causes exactly what one is afraid of, excessive desire makes it impossible to get what one wants at any cost. ». Frankl V.

« It is possible to befriend your problems. When we are overcome with emotions that are difficult to deal with, let’s ask them what they want. By befriending them in this way, we will learn how to react. ». T. Thondup