122 Quotes by Daniel J. Siegel

An important take-home message is that it is vital to keep the lines of connection and communication open and to remember that we all – adolescents and adults – need to be members of a connected community.

From early infancy, it appears that our ability to regulate emotional states depends upon the experience of feeling that a significant person in our life is simultaneously experiencing a similar state of mind.

To state this more succinctly, awareness of the body’s state influences how we organize our lives. Knowing your body strengthens your mind.

You don’t have to get stuck in a negative experience. You don’t have to be a victim to external events, or internal emotions. You can use your mind to take charge of how you feel, and how you act.

Early experience shapes the structure and function of the brain. This reveals the fundamental way in which gene expression is determined by experience.

You can use all of the interactions you share – the stressful, angry ones as well as the miraculous, adorable ones – as opportunities to help them become the responsible, caring, capable people you want them to be.

What molds our brain? Experience. Even into old age, our experiences actually change the physical structure of the brain. When we undergo an experience, our brain cells – called neurons – become active, or “fire.” The brain has one hundred billion neurons, each with an average of ten thousand connections to other neurons.

Sometimes parents avoid talking about upsetting experiences, thinking that doing so will reinforce their children’s pain or make things worse. Actually, telling the story is often exactly what children need, both to make sense of the event and to move on to a place where they can feel better about what happened.

Mindfulness is a form of mental activity that trains the mind to become aware of awareness itself and to pay attention to one’s own intention.