My favorite quotes about counseling
From Carl Rogers and Viktor Frankl to Brené Brown and Esther Perel, we have been fortunate to have access to some of the greatest minds across the globe. Whether they are writing (or speaking) on love and relationships, the unavoidable pain of the human experience, or the power of mental health counseling, these writers inspire and motivate me daily. Here are some of my favorite quotes I’ve come across on the topics of counseling and emotions.
Quotes on the process of counseling
"The art of therapy includes the ability to gradually peel away layers of illusion in manageable portions." – Louis Cozolino
“But part of getting to know yourself is to unknow yourself–to let go of the limiting stories you’ve told yourself about who are so that you aren’t trapped by them.” – Lori Gottlieb
“Counseling and treatment are not things that are done to clients. Rather, clients are active participants in the process; clients are experts on themselves and their situations, and their input is crucial to treatment success." – Victoria E. Kress & Matthew J. Paylo
“You create the rapport not by fixing people. You create the rapport by witnessing them. By giving them empathy within the moment…And the more accurately you see who they are, the more they feel witnessed, the more they begin to build trust in you. So the rapport is not about intervening. The rapport is in the moment-to-moment empathy and understanding.” – Julie Schwartz Gottman
"The amygdala has the neural authority to veto happiness for the sake of survival. Psychotherapy has to break into this closed logical loop by interrupting the cycle." – Louis Cozolino
"Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary." – Fred Rogers
"In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?" – Carl Rogers
"Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer." – William S. Burroughs
Quotes on the power of relationships
“Life doesn’t make any sense without interdependence. We need each other, and the sooner we learn that, the better for us all." – Erik Erikson
"Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Love is a verb. Not a permanent state of enthusiasm." – Esther Perel
"You can spend a lifetime being curious about the inner world of your partner, and being brave enough to share your own inner world, and never be done discovering all there is to know about each other. It’s exciting." – John Gottman
"We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others." – The Dalai Lama
"Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another." – George Eliot
Quotes on the journey of life
"The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination." – Carl Rogers
"Meanings are not determined by situations. We determine ourselves by the meanings we ascribe to situations." – Alfred Adler
"The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no one recipe for living that suits all cases." – Carl Jung
"I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time." – Anna Freud
Quotes on optimism
"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden." – Frances Hodgson Burnett
"When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic." – Carl Rogers
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way." – Viktor Frankl
Quotes on pain and mental health
“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured." – Mark Twain
"You look at me and cry; everything hurts. I hold you and whisper: but everything can heal." – Rupi Kaur
"Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad." – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Mental health problems don’t define who you are. They are something you experience. You walk in the rain and you feel the rain, but, importantly, you are not the rain." – Matt Haig
