Body Quote by Antonio Damasio
“When you experience the emotion of sadness, there will be changes in facial expression, and your body will be closed in, withdrawn. There are also changes in your heart, your guts: they slow down. And there are hormonal changes.”
About This Quote
Source Book: Self Comes: A Scientific Approach to the Mind and Body, 1999
Sadness triggers facial, bodily, and hormonal shifts that signal withdrawal and reduced energy.
In simple terms: Sadness makes you look and feel closed.
Key Takeaway
Recognize and address bodily signals.
Themes
emotions
physiology
withdrawal
psychology
Mood
reflective
somatic
Type
educational
clinical
When to use this quote
- therapy sessions
- stress management
- health monitoring
- relationship counseling
Key Concepts
neuroscience
affect regulation
homeostasis
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you notice your body changing when sad?
- What practices help you re‑open?
A Different Perspective
Physical symptoms may not fully capture emotional complexity.
![“We may express them [emotions] physically slightly differently, and it's of course graded depending on the circumstance, but the essence of the process is going to be the same, unless one of us is not quite well put together and is missing something, otherwise it's going to be the same.” quote by Antonio Damasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/461/antonio-damasio-9144_circumstances_we-may-express-them-emotions-physically_245207.jpg)
![“I've used the Phoenix Centrifuge to replicate what the body's going to go through on the flight up. I've also done some gravity tests with ZERO-G [a charter-flight service in Arlington, Va., that uses modified Boeing 727s to simulate weightlessness], which went great.” quote by Richard Branson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/aa1/richard-branson-256_adventure_i-ve-used-the-phoenix-centrifuge-to-repl_903.jpg)
