When my brain seizes up, as it often does, and I can’t think what next, I have a little stockpile of slogans, sayings and affirmations that bring me back to myself in the moment. Whew! Then I’m able to hear my inner wisdom over all the head-chatter, and do my best—which really is all anyone can ask, right? (My 30-day compassion-to-Gay retreat continues!) Ten of my favorite in-the-crunch one-liners:

1.Promise less, produce more.
2.It’s not how you feel it’s how you function.
3.To live in the future or in the past is to deny God.
4.Nothing is more important than my mental health. (Or, its variant, [Insert worry, crisis, etc here] is trivial compared to my mental health.)
5.Do I want to be right or do I want to be happy?
6.Only God is perfect. Perfection is not a human quality.
7.God is not a labor-saving device. I have to do my part.
8.Easy does it but do it.
9.What other people think of me is none of my business.
10.I am enough, I have enough, I do enough.