I rarely have an original thought and almost always revert to re-using someone else’s thoughts. In that spirit, I have provided below a laundry list of quotations that, to me, represent the essence of what one learns (if willing) during the psychotherapy process. Yes, a couple of these come from me, so you’re witnessing a rare occasion. If you are a current or past client of mine, you might recognize some of these.

For all those whose longing to be truly free is becoming stronger than their desire to distract themselves from suffering.
Robert Augustus Masters

The mind open to being questioned is the only mind that can take this journey.
Byron Katie

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
Joseph Campbell

Teachers open the door but you must enter by yourself.
Chinese Proverb

Do you really want to know the truth?
Byron Katie

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.
Carl R. Rogers

What would someone who loved themselves do?
Dan Metevier

What all myths have to deal with is transformations of consciousness. You have been thinking one way; you now have to think a different way.
Joseph Campbell

You never have to change what you see, Only the way you see it.
Thaddeus Golas

Things do not change: We change.
Henry David Thoreau

Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it – It’s just easier if you do.
Byron Katie

Got stress? You’re arguing with what is.
Byron Katie

No matter who got me into what I got into, I am the only person who can get me out.
Barry Stevens

You teach people how to treat you by what you allow, what you stop, and what you reinforce.
Tony Gaskins

You have to learn to get rid of the buttons instead of the button pushers.
Yogi Amrit Desai

Peace doesn’t require two people; it requires only one. It has to be you. The problem begins and ends there.
Byron Katie

If you are willing to look at another person’s behavior toward you as a reflection of the state of their relationship with themselves rather than a statement about your value as a person, then you will, over a period of time, cease to react at all.
Yogi Bhajan

The world will test you in every way, so that you can realize that last little piece that’s unfinished inside you.
Byron Katie

The ego/mind presumes and is convinced that its perceptions and interpretations of life experiences are the “real” thing and therefore “true.” It also believes … that other people see, think, and feel the same way; and if they do not, they are mistaken and therefore wrong.
David R. Hawkins

Think of the worst thing you ever did. With the limited understanding you had then, weren’t you doing the best you could?
Byron Katie

When you get better, they might get worse.
Dan Metevier

Copyright 2015 Daniel J. Metevier, except for cited quotations.