Awareness reveals the distance between reaction and choice. It’s a game-changer because it shows you that space, that tiny gap, where your freedom actually lives. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
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Meaning
At its core, this quote means that simply being aware creates a crucial gap between your automatic impulses and your conscious decisions.
Explanation
Let me break this down for you. For years, I used to think my reactions *were* me. Someone cuts me off in traffic, and boom—anger, honking, the whole thing. I was on autopilot. What Goleman is pointing to is that moment of awareness itself. That’s the tool. When you become aware of the anger rising, something magical happens. You’re no longer just the anger; you’re the one witnessing the anger. And in that witnessing, there’s a sliver of space. A half-second. A breath. And in that space, you find your power to choose. Do you fuel the reaction? Or do you choose something else? That distance is everything. It’s the difference between being a puppet and being the puppeteer.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Category | Emotion (177) |
| Topics | awareness (126), choice (55), reaction (8) |
| Literary Style | didactic (370) |
| Emotion / Mood | clarifying (20) |
| Overall Quote Score | 80 (256) |
Origin & Factcheck
This gem comes straight from Daniel Goleman’s 1988 book, The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience. It’s a deep dive into meditation practices long before he became a household name with Emotional Intelligence. Sometimes people mistakenly attribute similar ideas to Buddhist texts or Eckhart Tolle, but this specific phrasing is Goleman’s, rooted in his early work exploring consciousness.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Daniel Goleman (125) |
| Source Type | Book (4032) |
| Source/Book Name | The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience (60) |
| Origin Timeperiod | Modern (530) |
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4032) |
Author Bio
Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and bestselling author whose journalism at The New York Times brought brain and behavior science to a wide audience. He earned a BA from Amherst and a PhD in psychology from Harvard, and studied in India on a Harvard fellowship. Goleman’s research and writing helped mainstream emotional intelligence, leadership competencies, attention, and contemplative science. He co-founded CASEL and a leading research consortium on EI at work. The Daniel Goleman book list includes Emotional Intelligence, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Primal Leadership, Social Intelligence, Focus, and Altered Traits.
| Official Website
Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | Awareness reveals the distance between reaction and choice |
| Book Details | Publication Year/Date: 1977 (originally as The Varieties of Meditative Experience, revised 1988 as The Meditative Mind); ISBN: 9780874778335; Last Edition: Tarcher/Putnam 1988; Number of pages: 320. |
| Where is it? | Approximate page from 1988 edition, Chapter 6: The Mind in Balance |