Sue Patton Thoele Quotes

#1. Expecting people to read your mind hardly ever gets you what you desire.

Sue Patton Thoele

#2. Pace yourself in your work and commitments. Nobody is indispensable. And when you get sick, honor your body by giving it the rest and medical attention that it's asking for.

Sue Patton Thoele

#3. Often illness is an expression of feelings repressed.

Sue Patton Thoele

#4. Being aware of our feelings sounds easy, but it's not because many of us spend our entire lives pushing feelings aside as we try to please others.

Sue Patton Thoele

#5. However, if criticism and humility aren't balanced with appreciation for things we do well and our willingness to learn, we can become critical, judgmental, and stress-filled.

Sue Patton Thoele

#6. Lack of forgiveness gives others power over us. Withholding forgiveness simply allows another person to have control over our well-being.

Sue Patton Thoele

#7. Placing our attention on providing consistent appreciation, approval, and applause to those we love not only focuses their energy on the good things about themselves but also teaches them to return the favor to us.

Sue Patton Thoele

#8. We need to accept our anger, fear, or whatever undisclosed feelings we have, no matter how socially unacceptable they seem.

Sue Patton Thoele

#9. Considering the fact that we're all laced with flaws, idiosyncrasies, and vulnerabilities, wouldn't it be wise and kind to adopt an attitude of gentleness in relating to each other?

Sue Patton Thoele

#10. We all need to feel understood and connected to ourselves and to others.

Sue Patton Thoele

#11. Sometimes the waters of our spirits are churned and murky, and it is difficult to tap the reservoirs of our innate wisdom and knowledge. But the waters will settle as we do. Quietly and gently encourage yourself to go inside. Clarity will come.

Sue Patton Thoele

#12. When we become response-able - that is, when we learn to choose our responses freely and consciously - we are free to build a life of continuing growth and increasing happiness.

Sue Patton Thoele

#13. Hiding our fears behind compulsive behavior of any kind severely limits our ability to be ourselves.

Sue Patton Thoele

#14. Teasing is veiled hostility and is almost never funny, unless the teasee has openly agreed to relate that way.

Sue Patton Thoele

#15. Anger, if not allowed to fester and grow out of proportion, is healthy, like a smoke alarm that if heeded can prevent all sorts of damage.

Sue Patton Thoele

#16. If you're about to become a stepmother or are currently filling that role, you are gambling that the love you've found and the strength and wisdom that you've acquired will see you through.

Sue Patton Thoele

#17. Pausing gives us the opportunity to arrive at an internal place from which we can choose wisely what needs to be done or said, and then do so gently.

Sue Patton Thoele

#18. An angry frontal attack puts even the most invulnerable person on the defensive.

Sue Patton Thoele

#19. Worry is a habit that shatters our peace of mind and needlessly drains our energy, a form of mental masturbation without any benefits.

Sue Patton Thoele

#20. It's so important to break the pattern of looking outside ourselves for self-esteem.

Sue Patton Thoele

#21. Unresolved grief is created when we don't allow ourselves to work through feelings as they arise. If we deny having painful feelings or put them on a shelf, they don't simply evaporate. Rather, unresolved feelings gnaw at our energy, prey on our emotions, and generally debilitate us.

Sue Patton Thoele

#22. To most women, friendship is not a luxury; it is an essential part of their being.

Sue Patton Thoele

#23. Because we fear other people's reactions and don't know how to respond, we allow them to violate our limits and boundaries.

Sue Patton Thoele