Self-awareness is a supreme gift, a treasure as precious as life.
IRVIN D. YALOMDeath cures psychoneurosis. In a sense all these neurotic concerns–fear of rejection, interpersonal concerns–seem to melt away, and people get another perspective on their lives. The important things are really important, and the trivia of life is trivialized.
More Irvin D. Yalom Quotes
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It is wrong to bear children out of need, wrong to use a child to alleviate loneliness, wrong to provide purpose in life by reproducing another copy of oneself. It is wrong also to seek immortality by spewing one’s germ into the future as though sperm contains your consciousness!
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My hunch is yes. It would certainly do something for those who are most ruthless, who tend to make others most miserable.
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If you want to choose the pleasure of growth, prepare yourself for some pain.
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Some day soon, perhaps in forty years, there will be no one alive who has ever known me. That’s when I will be truly dead – when I exist in no one’s memory.
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Never take away anything if you have nothing better to offer
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As we reach the crest of life and look at the path before us, we apprehend that the path no longer ascends but slopes downward toward decline and diminishment. From that point on, concerns about death are never far from mind.
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One comprehends oneself in order not to be preoccupied with oneself.
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Does a being who requires meaning find meaning in a universe that has no meaning?
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If we climb high enough, we will reach a height from which tragedy ceases to look tragic.
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Just as you were about to step on it, I asked you “Do you want to cross the footbridge to me?” – Immediately you did not want to anymore; and when I asked you again you remained silent.
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Death cures psychoneurosis. In a sense all these neurotic concerns–fear of rejection, interpersonal concerns–seem to melt away, and people get another perspective on their lives. The important things are really important, and the trivia of life is trivialized.
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To the extent that one is responsible for one’s life, one is alone.
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A focus on this deep dissatisfaction is often the starting point in overcoming death anxiety.
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Marriage and its entourage of possession and jealousy enslave the spirit.
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The therapist can make the group feel safer by allowing each patient to set his or her limits and by emphasizing the patient’s control over every interaction.
IRVIN D. YALOM