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
Helpful Personal Growth quotations
You alone are the judge of your worth and your goal is to discover infinite worth in yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Every time you make a mistake, don’t bring up everything that’s wrong with yourself; tell yourself that you’re paying the price for growth and that you will learn to do better next time. Every positive thing you can say to yourself will help.
We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us.
Don’t join an easy crowd; you won’t grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high.
Without enough wilderness America will change.
Democracy, with its myriad personalities and increasing sophistication, must be fibred and vitalized by regular contact with outdoor growths - animals, trees, sun warmth and free skies - or it will dwindle and pale.
Sometimes you have to kind of die inside in order to rise from your own ashes and believe in yourself and love yourself and become a new person.
The Goddess doesn't enter us from outside;
she emerges from deep within. She is not held back by what happened in the past. She is conceived in consciousness, born in love, and nurtured by higher thinking. She is integrity and value, created and sustained by the hard work of personal growth and the discipline of a life lived actively in hope.
Be grateful for your difficulties and challenges, for they hold blessings.
In fact... Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health personal growth, individuation and self-actualisation.
If you're going to be thinking anyway, think big!
You don't get character because you're successful;
you build character because of the hardships you face.
Never be afraid to tread the path alone.
Know which is your path and follow it wherever it may lead you; do not feel you have to follow in someone else's footsteps.
I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.
Know your value. Confidence breeds success. Act like the person you want to become, and people will start seeing you as that person.
The degree to which I can create relationships, which facilitate the growth of others as separate persons, is a measure of the growth I have achieved in myself.
By improving yourself, the world is made better.
Be not afraid of growing too slowly. Be afraid only of standing still.
For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value.
The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life without a purpose.
If you see it in your mind, you will hold it in your hand.
We have a tendency to want the other person to be a finished product while we give ourselves the grace to evolve.
Don’t worry about things. Don’t push. Just do your work and you’ll survive. The important thing is to have a ball, to be joyful, to be loving and to be explosive. Out of that comes everything and you grow.
If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes-then learn how to do it later!
Be very careful what you say to yourself because someone very important is listening . . . YOU!
Adversity and challenges are life’s way of creating strength.
Adversity creates challenge, and challenge creates change, and change is absolutely necessary for growth. If there is no change and challenge, there can be no growth and development.
Whatever relationships you have attracted in your life at this moment, are precisely the ones you need in your life at this moment. There is a hidden meaning behind all events, and this hidden meaning is serving your own evolution.
Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young.
Change comes more from managing the journey than from announcing the destination
Knowledge is like underwear. It is useful to have it, but not necessary to show it off.
Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself, and don't think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire.
A hobby is, of course, an abomination, as are all consuming interests and passions that do not lead directly to large, personal gain.
Life as a therapist is a life of service in which we daily transcend our personal wishes and turn our gaze toward the needs and growth of the other. We take pleasure not only in the growth of our patient but also in the ripple effect—the salutary influence our patients have upon those whom they touch in life.
The man or the woman in whom resides greater virtue is the higher;
neither the loftiness nor the lowliness of a person lies in the body according to the sex, but in the perfection of conduct and virtues.
If you're not living a life on the edge you're taking up too much space! .
.. You learn the most when you're out of your comfort zone!
Be the change you want to see.
We can't be in survival mode. We have to be in growth mode.