The experiences we live mark us, both positively and negatively, since they influence the way we end up seeing the world and have a great impact on the direction we decide to take. In the case of Boris Cyrulnik, his first-hand experience with Nazism and war helped him see the power of resilience, the same concept that has taken him far in the field of psychiatry and psychoanalysis.
Next we will explore the life philosophy of this French author and psychiatrist through a selection of the best phrases of Boris Cyrulnik commented.
The most inspiring Boris Cyrulnik phrases
This psychiatrist managed to transfer something so significant in his personal life to his field of work, which is an example that we can use our experiences to build a great future. That example is what we will see throughout this compilation of the most memorable Boris Cyrulnik phrases.
1. Resilience is like the oyster that makes a pearl from a grain of sand.
Resilience helps us bring out the positive side of every situation.
2. Neither forget nor use: the only way to get ahead is by understanding.
When we understand a situation, we are able to accept it and let it go.
3. The chimera called “fiction” is the twin sister of the story of oneself.
Sometimes we use fictional resources to tell our own story.
4. Problems can never be solved, there is always a trace left, but we can give them another life, a more bearable and sometimes even beautiful and meaningful life.
We can use our wounds to create something beneficial.
5. When we are unhappy, pleasure makes us afraid.
Insecurity stops us from experiencing satisfying things.
6. It is enough to be, to be superior.
We are all special.
7. When we silence words, objects become language.
The truth finds its way to come to light one way or another.
8. Words are pieces of affection that sometimes carry a little information.
The only way to know our emotions is to express them.
9. There are those who remain silent to hide, those who lower their heads and avoid glances to isolate themselves from others.
When we isolate ourselves, we make a problem bigger because its weight remains only on our shoulders.
10. Resilience is a process that is always possible if the person developing finds an object that is meaningful to them.
Talking about the way resilience works and how it can bring its positive effect.
11. It is lack that invites creativity.
Many artists create to fill a void in their souls.
12. We talk, we talk, and the words follow one another, but only when the music of the voice prepares us for the final point do we finally understand where they were taking us.
Many words are not equal to knowing how to communicate.
13. It is too easy to think that only monsters are capable of committing monstrous acts.
All human beings are capable of doing good, but they are also capable of doing much evil.
14. The less knowledge you have, the more convictions you have.
Ignorance has the peculiarity of enlarging people’s egos.
15. The paradox of the human condition is that you can only become yourself under the influence of others.
It’s okay to listen to the advice of others, but always to find our own path.
16. Unhappiness is never pure, nor is happiness.
Things are never black or white, because there are thousands of things in between.
17. Nobody claims that resilience is a recipe for happiness.
It is a tool that helps us move forward, but it cannot do everything for us.
18. God is conceived in different ways depending on the personal development of believers and according to their cultural context.
Many people can believe in God, even if it is not in the same way.
19. In healthy memory, the representation of oneself tells the way of living that allows us to be happy.
And it is that image that we project that we seek to make come true in our lives.
20. Love in all its manifestations is the cure to heal the wounds of childhood.
Love is fundamental for the ideal development of all people.
21. There is a point perhaps even more important than being loved, which is not emphasized enough.
It is not only about giving unconditional love, but also about supporting others in their projects.
22.Hating is remaining a prisoner of the past. To overcome it, it is better to understand than forgive.
Understanding helps us leave an event in the past and not take on importance in our present.
23. Life is crazy, isn’t it? That’s why it’s exciting.
Life and its changes offer us different ways of seeing the world.
24. If there are no events there is no history, there is no identity.
It is the experiences we live that shape our identity.
25. The transmission of information through words barely represents 35 percent of the message!
It’s not just what we say but how we say it.
26. It is not about choosing between punishing or forgiving, but between understanding to gain a little freedom or submitting to experience happiness in slavery.
Emphasizing the need to let go of hate and pain to move forward.
27. Resilience is the art of navigating torrents, the art of metamorphosing pain to give it meaning; the ability to be happy even when you have wounds in your soul.
The power that resilience exerts on us when we carry it out.
28. What determines the quality of their resilience is the quality of the bond they have been able to forge before the trauma and immediately after.
It is having the commitment to want to face what was and also to let it go.
29. You have to learn to observe to avoid the poisonous beauty of metaphors.
Building our dreams should not take our feet away from reality.
30. The genetic factor exists but says almost nothing about the human condition.
We can be influenced by genetics, but this is not absolute in our personality.
31. A word allows us to organize another way of understanding the mystery of those who achieved it: resilience, which designates the ability to move forward, to live, to develop despite adversity.
By organizing our ideas we are able to better express what we have been through.
32. Love is a surprise that takes us away from the insipid, attachment is a bond that is woven daily.
It is a force that makes us appreciate life in a more joyful way.
33. Poetry is old-fashioned for those who are satiated, but when the real is unbearable, it acquires the value of a weapon to survive.
As the saying goes, ‘poetry is for those who want to read it.’
34. Our laughter is a weapon. We are stronger than despair.
That is why it is so important to maintain a good mood at all times.
35. Creativity would be the daughter of suffering. Which does not mean that suffering is the mother of all creativity.
There is a clear difference between using suffering as a muse and depending on suffering to be creative.
36. An adversity is a wound that is inscribed in our history, but it is not a destiny.
Mistakes or failures do not determine our future, they are lessons to improve.
37. What is the secret of the strength that allowed you to pick flowers in dung?
It is the ability to take positive lessons from something bad.
38. A life dedicated to pleasure makes us fall into despair as surely as a life without pleasure.
This happens when we try to fill a void with things we don’t really need.
39. Resilience is more than resisting, it is also learning to live.
It is finding meaning in what we feel is holding us back, in order to move forward.
40. That resilience has not been studied, despite the fact that all doctors have confirmed it, is very telling about our culture, a culture for which survivors continue to be suspect.
Thanks to the efforts of people like him, resilience is now an important topic.
41. A true relationship causes a reciprocal influence. They are two intimate worlds that interact and one modifies the other.
The objective that should be pursued when looking for a partner.
42. Imagine that we are balanced people with a peaceful life, there would be no event, no crisis, no trauma to overcome, only routine, nothing to remember; We wouldn’t even be able to discover who we are.
Using the concept of resilience to show us a more positive side to the problems that surround us.
43. Human beings need to be loved. But not just being loved, but loving and letting yourself be loved.
Just love is not enough, but recognition and validation as people is also needed.
44. In traumatic memory, an incredible tear fixes the past image and clouds thought.
A trauma holds us to the past and the refusal to live the same thing again, even if we have to lock ourselves up for it.
45. It is a strategy to combat misfortune that allows you to extract pleasure from living, despite the murmur of ghosts from the depths of your memory.
Explaining the benefits we get by practicing resilience.
46. What I lost in illusions, I gained in tenderness.
By better understanding circumstances, we can empathize with other people’s situations.
47. All sorrows can be endured if you put them in a story.
Telling our story is an excellent cathartic therapy.
48. If suffering restricts creativity, that does not mean that one must be forced to suffer in order to become creative.
Many artists use pain as a source of inspiration, but not all creations originate from suffering.
49. This combination, made up of a personal temperament, a cultural significance and a social support, explains the astonishing diversity of traumas.
Not all traumas come from the same place and even if they do, they have different meanings for people.
50. Yesterday, pain was a sign of the injured person’s weakness, today it reveals the professional’s incompetence.
Each suffering is personal and therefore must be respected.
51. Resilience is the art of metamorphosing pain to give it meaning.
It is knowing how to change pain from something harmful to something normal.
52. One can be reborn a little, but one lives in a different way, because a mortal anguish invades our soul.
Starting over does not necessarily mean leaving the entire past behind, because we are left with something.
53. If we accept the idea that we speak in order to influence others to become receptive to our own affections, we will understand the need for those small crushes.
It is human to want others to understand the situations we go through.
54. Tormented by our memories, we dedicate ourselves to polishing our memory.
In the search to avoid pain, we hide thousands of memories that come close to any form of suffering.
55. Only myths make deterministic stories.
Cultures are based on myths that make them great or dangerous.
56. The surest way to torture a man is to drive him to despair by saying: “There are no whys here.” This phrase makes him fall into the world of things, he subjects them to things and turns himself into a thing.
We always want to find an answer to our questions and when we don’t have it, we fall into perpetual despair.
57. Every wounded man is forced to undergo metamorphosis.
The only way to move forward is to change.
58. With biological, emotional, psychological and social threads of wool, we spend our lives knitting ourselves.
We are made up of thousands of experiences and personal traits.
59. To count is to expose oneself to danger. To remain silent is to isolate yourself.
By exposing ourselves we show our vulnerabilities but we also open ourselves up to heal.
60. When the “I” is fragile, the “we” serves as a prosthesis.
There are those who develop a negative attachment to others because they do not like being with themselves.