Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it's the time when they most need to think.
Interpretation
In times of stress, people often avoid thinking, yet that's when thoughtful reflection is most necessary.
This quote by William J. Clinton highlights the paradoxical behavior people exhibit under stress. Often, in moments of pressure, individuals are inclined to avoid deep thinking and reflection, even though these very moments are crucial for making informed decisions and navigating challenges effectively. Stress can cloud judgment and lead to hasty decisions, but it is precisely during such times that one should take a step back and engage in critical thought to ensure clarity and direction.
In practice
In a speech about managing stress in the workplace, this quote can inspire employees to engage in mindful thinking.
You know, there was a recent poll which said that young people in the generation of the students here felt it was far more likely that they would see a UFO than that they would draw Social Security... It's very important you understand this. Once you understand this, you realize this is not an episode from the X Files, and you're not more likely to see a UFO if you do certain specific things.
When we got organized as a country, [and] wrote a fairly radical Constitution, with a radical Bill of Rights, giving radical amounts of freedom to Americans, it was assumed that Americans who had that freedom would use it responsibly...When personal freedom is being abused, you have to move to limit it.
For too long we've been told about 'us' and 'them.' Each and every election we see a new slate of arguments and ads telling us that 'they' are the problem, not 'us.' But there can be no 'them' in America. There's only us.
There is a huge body of business evidence now showing that energy savings give better service at lower cost with higher profit. We have to tear down barriers to successful markets and we have to create incentives to enter them.
Demand that your government pays more attention. It's immoral that people in Africa die like flies of diseases that no one dies of in the United States. And the more disease there is, the more political unrest there will be, leading to more Darfurs, which the U.S. will have to pay to fix.
I was not elected to produce a pile of vetoes.
If you donβt learn constantly, you donβt grow and you will wither. Too many people wither on the vine. Sure, it gets a little harder as you get older, but new experiences and new challenges keep it fresh.
The way to get on in the world is to be neither more nor less wise, neither better nor worse than your neighbours.
These are the few ways we can practice humility: To speak as little as possible of one's self. To mind one's own business. Not to want to manage other people's affairs. To avoid curiosity. To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully. To pass over the mistakes of others. To accept insults and injuries. To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked. To be kind and gentle even under provocation. Never to stand on one's dignity. To choose always the hardest.
There is some pleasure even in words, when they bring forgetfulness of present miseries.
As much as we can, let's defend the truth by pointing to what the apostles taught, and let's call out sin by pointing to the inconsistencies between what we say we believe and what we do.
One way to look at meditation is as a kind of intrapsychic technology that's been developed over thousands of years by traditions that know a lot about the mind/body connection.
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