Your Erroneous Zones: Step-by-Step Advice for Escaping the Trap of Negative Thinking and Taking Control of Your Life

Are you motivated by your potential for growth, rather than a need to repair your deficiencies? (Chapter I)

If in doubt, consult the commandments rather than yourself and what you believe.

Once you can change your thoughts, your new feelings will begin to emerge, and you will have taken the first step on the road to your personal freedom.

“Why am I choosing to feel upset right now?” and “How can I make more effective use of my present moments?”

Gain a lot of pity, attention and even approval from others, which substitutes nicely for the risky business of getting involved in a love relationship. Thus the pity and attention are your self-defeating rewards.

The present moment, that elusive time which is always with you, can be most beautifully experienced if you allow yourself to get lost in it. Drink in all of every moment and tune out that past which is over and the future which will arrive in time. Seize the present moment as the only one you have. And remember, wishing, hoping and regretting are t

A thought becomes a belief when you’ve worked on it repeatedly, not when you simply try it once and use your initial inability as the rationale for giving up.

Regress to being a good little boy or girl, calling upon the leftover responses of a child and therefore pleasing those “big-people” that you learned to regard as superior to you. Your regression is safer than risk.

Immobilization can range from total inaction to mild indecision and hesitancy.

But approval should not be contingent upon being proper, nor should a child have to get a parent’s sanction for everything he says, thinks, feels, or does.