Libby Davy > Libby Davy's Quotes

“TRUST IN ONE’S ORGANISM A second characteristic of the persons who emerge from therapy is difficult to describe. It seems that the person increasingly discovers that his own organism is trustworthy, that it is a suitable instrument for discovering the most satisfying behavior in each immediate situation. If this seems strange, let me try to state it more fully. Perhaps it will help to understand my description if you think of the individual as faced with some existential choice: “Shall I go home to my family during vacation, or strike out on my own?” “Shall I drink this third cocktail which is being offered?” “Is this the person whom I would like to have as my partner in love and in life?” Thinking of such situations, what seems to be true of the person who emerges from the therapeutic process? To the extent that this person is open to all of his experience, he has access to all of the available data in the situation, on which to base his behavior. He has knowledge of his own feelings and impulses, which are often complex and contradictory. He is freely able to sense the social demands, from the relatively rigid social “laws” to the desires of friends and family. He has access to his memories of similar situations, and the consequences of different behaviors in those situations. He has a relatively accurate perception of this external situation in all of its complexity. He is better able to permit his total organism, his conscious thought participating, to consider, weigh and balance each stimulus, need, and demand, and its relative weight and intensity. Out of this complex weighing and balancing he is able to discover that course of action which seems to come closest to satisfying all his needs in the situation, long-range as well as immediate needs.”
― Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person

“In fact, as human beings, we are by nature social animals, and our happiness and even survival depend upon our interaction and cooperation. So when positive emotions guide intelligence, it become constructive. The warm, compassionate heart is the basis for peace of mind, without which the mind will always be uncomfortable and disturbed.”
― Thupten Jinpa, Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings

“I find that this desire to be all of oneself in each moment — all the richness and complexity, with nothing hidden from oneself, and nothing feared in oneself — this is a common desire in those who have seemed to show much movement in therapy. I do not need to say that this is a difficult, and in its absolute sense an impossible goal. Yet one of the most evident trends in clients is to move toward becoming all of the complexity of one’s changing self in each significant moment.”
― Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person

“Time and again in my clients, I have seen simple people become significant and creative in their own spheres, as they have developed more trust of the processes going on within themselves, and have dared to feel their own feelings, live by values which they discover within, and express themselves in their own unique ways.”
― Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person

“marriage can, should and must evolve. Don’t be alarmed, and don’t resent it. Be patient and kind, unflaggingly. In the long run, it’s the unasked-for hot-water bottles on winter nights that matter more than the extravagant gestures. Express gratitude, especially for work that tends to get taken for granted. Identify problems as they arise, remembering that anger is flammable. When you’ve behaved like a donkey, Peter,’ the groom smiles at his toes, ‘remember that a sincere apology never diminishes the apologiser. Wrong turns teach us the right way.”
― David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks

“If ever a place had a karma of damnation, it’s Rottnest. And all those slick galleries selling Aboriginal art were eroding away my will to live. It’s as if Germans built a Jewish food hall over Buchenwald.”
― David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks

“The Japanese word seiki is also a way of pointing to this vitality of presence. Carl Whitaker hinted at it when he said therapy was as good as the goodness of the therapist. Though his words are easy to misunderstand, they imply a truth: “I found seiki at the heart of most healing traditions.” Keeney is referring to his decade-long journey around the world, studying with the most accomplished healers in southern Africa, Latin America, South Asia, among the aborigines of Australia, and to many other far-flung places that hold ancient practices. He finds it more than a little amusing that in the culture of therapy we are so obsessed with things that matter so little to others around the world. “I have learned that one’s model or protocols matter not at all and that evidence-based therapy is a gambler’s way of pulling the authority card. If you have seiki, or a powerful life force, then any model will come to life. Without it, the session will be dead and incapable of transformation.” Keeney finds it challenging, if not frustrating, to try to explain this idea to those who don’t speak this language. “I guess if you have seiki or n/om, you feel what I am talking about; if you don’t, no words will matter. The extent to which you feel, smell, taste, hear, and see this vitality is a measure of how much mastery there is in your practice and everyday life.” We believe it is an illusion that master therapists truly understand what therapy is all about and how it works. The reality is that the process has many different dimensions and nuances that we never really grasp. There are aspects that appear both mysterious and magical.”
― Jeffrey A. Kottler, On Being a Master Therapist: Practicing What You Preach

“So far, very few treatments have been scientifically proven to be effective. One of those is hypnotherapy. Really good psychotherapy is like physiotherapy for the nerves. It eases tensions, and teaches us how to move in a more healthy way — at the neural level. Because”
― Giulia Enders, Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Under-Rated Organ

“Sweeteners such as aspartame appear to be carcinogenic, while other substances used in typical ‘diet’ products are also used in factory farming to fatten pigs. So”
― Giulia Enders, Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Under-Rated Organ

“The truth that many people never understand until it is too late is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer. — Thomas Merton”
― Joanna Macy, Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects

“CONSUME OBEY BE SILENT DIE”
― Joanna Macy, Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects

“They are quite happy to have things, if they need them, but they are not hoping to find meaning, status, or happiness in material things. The”
― James Wallman, Stuffocation: Living More with Less

“just radiated curiosity and enthusiasm. Toward the end of our interview, he said, “The most important thing to me is probably, like, being kind and also trying to do something awesome.”
― Dan Harris, 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works - A True Story

“write down this quote from Jon Kabat-Zinn and put it up on your wall: “Meditation is not about feeling a certain way. It’s about feeling the way you feel.”
― Dan Harris, 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works - A True Story

“Coaching is a good profession for people who are genuinely devoted to making a difference in the lives of others.”
― Steve Chandler, The Prosperous Coach: Increase Income and Impact for You and Your Clients

“In an industrial society, psychological benefits such as security, fulfilment, status, solidarity and conviviality are all delivered primarily through the jobs that people have or the work that they do.”
― Ernst F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful: The classic call for human-scale economics which is now more relevant than ever

“The Buddhist point of view takes the function of work to be at least threefold: to give a man a chance to utilise and develop his faculties; to enable him to overcome his egocentredness by joining with other people in a common task; and to bring forth the goods and services needed for a becoming existence. Again,”
― Ernst F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful: The classic call for human-scale economics which is now more relevant than ever

“Equally, to strive for leisure as an alternative to work would be considered a complete misunderstanding of one of the basic truths of human existence, namely that work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss of leisure.”
― Ernst F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful: The classic call for human-scale economics which is now more relevant than ever

“in the teachings of many other contemplative or mystical traditions, the basic view is that people are fundamentally good and healthy. It’s as if everyone who has ever been born has the same birthright, which is enormous potential of warm heart and clear mind. The”
― Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape: How to love yourself and your world

“The seasons come and go, summer follows spring and fall follows summer and winter follows fall, and human beings are born and mature, have their middle age, begin to grow older and die, and everything has its cycles. Day follows night, night follows day. It is good to be part of all of this.’ When you begin to have that kind of trust in basic creativity and directness and fullness, in the alive quality of yourself and your world, then you can begin to understand renunciation.”
― Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape: How to love yourself and your world

“After the September 11th tragedy in New York City, people began to tell others what their loved ones, who had been trapped in the twin towers in New York, had said to them in frantic telephone conversations or email messages. Those who received calls from mobile phones from the doomed planes also told their stories. Some re-listened to messages left on answerphones. And as they shared their experiences, it was immediately evident that the same three words kept coming up time and time again. Those words did not refer to size of salary or bonuses, nor to the type of car recently purchased or expensive holidays taken. No. Lovers said them to lovers, husbands to wives, friends to friends and parents to kids: ‘I love you.’ ‘Tell Suzanne, I love her.”
― Rob Parsons, Teenagers!: What Every Parent Has to Know

“Relax Remove pressure Have patience Ask questions Show you are there for them Love Love Love”
― Rob Parsons, Teenagers!: What Every Parent Has to Know

“To build an effective new habit, you need five essential components: a reason, a trigger, a micro-habit, effective practice, and a plan.”
― Michael Bungay Stanier, The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

“The extended family, the community, and religion may indeed have limited our freedom, sexual and otherwise, but in return they offered us a much-needed sense of belonging. For generations, these traditional institutions provided order, meaning, continuity, and social support. Dismantling them has left us with more choices and fewer restrictions than ever. We are freer, but also more alone. As Giddens describes it, we have become ontologically more anxious.”
― Esther Perel, Mating in Captivity: Sex, Lies and Domestic Bliss

“Proust, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
― Esther Perel, Mating in Captivity: Sex, Lies and Domestic Bliss

“George Bernard Shaw put it succinctly when he said, “The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
― Michael Bungay Stanier, The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

“The point is that our true nature is not some ideal that we have to live up to. It’s who we are right now, and that’s what we can make friends with and celebrate.”
― Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape: How to love yourself and your world

“What paralyzes life is lack of faith and lack of courage. The difficulty lies not in solving problems but in expressing them correctly; and we can now see that it is biologically undeniable that unless we harness passion to the service of spirit there can be no progress. Sooner or later, then, and in spite of all our incredulity, the world will take this step— because the greater truth always prevails and the greater good emerges in the end.”
― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, On Love & Happiness

“The Criticizer, the Criticized, and the Compassionate Observer”
― Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind

“While the physical scientists of the seventeenth and eighteenth century asked, “Where are we?” in the universe; and the social scientists of the nineteenth century inquired, “Who are we?” in our relationship to nature and the unconscious; we’re now at a time of history when the question is “How are we?” in our interconnectedness and interdependence with life. I”
― Richard Strozzi-Heckler, The Art of Somatic Coaching: Embodying Skillful Action, Wisdom, and Compassion