Words Worth Contemplating (Part I). Frontiers Friday #165 ⭕️

Words that stood the test of time.

Many of us have quotes that stood the test of time in our memory bank. Some of them came from the readings, social feeds, or even words that others have said.

In this December, I thought I'd keep things relatively straightforward and share with you snippets that have either remained with me over the years, or stuff that have surprised me when I combed through my 11,824 notes in my Obsidian vault.

As I pick these quotes, I'm keeping in mind the underlying principles that might be useful to you and your clients in your clinical practice. I'd make a short note under each why I picked them.

FF165: Words Worth Contemplating (Part I)

1. “Nobody is so poor that he/she has nothing to give, and nobody is so rich that he/she has nothing to receive”
   ~ Karol Józef Wojtyła, Pope John Paul II.
   Why I picked this: I'm thinking about situations where clients might benefit from engaging in acts of giving, even when they are down in the dumps, and others who have rarely made room to let others in, to depend on others, to receive, and to let others feel the gift of being able to gift to them.
   

2. “I have a deep sense, hard to articulate, that if we could really befriend death we would be free people.”.
   ~ Henri Nouwen
   Why I picked this: Nouwen learned the value of "befriending death" from the depth psychologist, James Hillman. I've also learned about this from my mentor on “befriending grief” many years ago. To befriend, is to relate and integrate with the totality of our human experience.
   

3. “You can read a cookbook and still starve to death.”
   ~ From a client.
   Why I picked this: I heard this line from a client from more than 10 years ago. The only way a cookbook is helpful is that we are cooking.
   When you read a book, push yourself to translate the ideas. 1 translatable "call to action" for each chapter.
   

4. “You are here because someone has loved you into being.”
   ~ Fred Rogers

   Why I picked this: A reminder of how we came into existence.
   

5. “Stress is a perverted relationship to time.”
   ~ John O'Donohue

   Why I picked this: Since hearing the late John O'Donohue's utter this phrase, it has stuck with me. When we see stress in relations to time, we start to see the insanity of our daily actions, pushing ourselves closer and closer to the edge of what we can barely behold. For more, listen to O’Donohue.

Notice Board:

1. All of my websites are down at the moment. Sigh… and apologies. Thanks to those who have flagged them out to me.

2. One thing that is fixed: Several have asked about the link to download the Bonus gifts and resources from the book, The First Kiss. This is now working. Click here.

3. Greetings to the team at Grief Australia. Thanks for coming together. You guys are doing important world.

Daryl Chow Ph.D. is the author of The First Kiss, co-author of Better Results, The Write to Recovery, Creating Impact, and the latest book The Field Guide to Better Results.