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About this quote

What does it mean?
Bad ideas torment us; they can be healed by surrendering to them.
In plain terms
To cure harmful thoughts, one must give in to them.
What can you take from it?
Sometimes confronting a thought means allowing it to run its course.

Where it applies

  • anxiety episodes
  • creative blocks
  • moral dilemmas

Putting it to work

  • practice mindful surrender
  • observe thoughts without resistance

Questions to consider

  • When is surrender a healthy response to a bad idea?
  • What alternatives exist to 'succumbing'?

Another view

Surrendering may reinforce harmful patterns rather than resolve them.

More from Honore de Balzac

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  3. 'Je reussirai!' Le mot du joueur, du grand capitaine, mot fataliste qui perd plus d'hommes qu'il n'en sauve.

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