“Our life stories are largely constructed and without mindfulness can prove destructive.”

“Flannery O'Connor ... points out that 'a story really isn't good unless it successfully resists paraphrase. ...' ... Paraphrasing can force us into deeper levels of both story and self. O'Connor also says that a good story 'hangs on and expands the mind.' ... Most importantly, as we explore the largeness of stories, their 'macro' possibilities, we are forced further into the largeness of our own lives. The 'hidden' story, made visible, can be that which is most difficult to confront in our experiences and, at the same time, the story that demands to be told.”

“The large, gaping flaws in the construction of the stories--mad wives in the attic, strange apparitions in Belgium--are a representation of the life she could not face; these gothic subterfuges represent the mind at a breaking point, frantic to find any way out. If the flaws are only to be attributed to the practicce of popular fiction of the time, we cannot then explain the large amount of genuine feeling that goes into them. They stand for the hidden wishes of an intolerable life.”

“We can passively take our place in the negative chain, accepting the harm to ourselves and passing it on to others. Or we can break the chain and turn the energy of a destructive emotion into a constructive action.”

“Our life is a blank book and we are the authors......... Write and shape your story as much as the mind can imagine it”

“The axis today is not liberal and conservative, the axis is constructive-destructive.”