masterwordsmith-unplugged

Ever heard of Dick Olney? Dick was both a master psychotherapist and, for many, a profound spiritual teacher. He called his work Self-Acceptance Training and he trained therapists and others from coast to coast for more than two decades. Dick said the truth can never be spoken. Even so, his words point the way.

Here's a selection of his famous sayings which are full of insight and wisdom.

"There is only one wound of the mental body, and that is the wound of self-criticism or self-judgment"

"Self-criticism or self-judgment is self-hatred. It will always hurt you. There is no exception to that."

"One definition of insanity is to do something for twenty years that has not worked, and then do it again as if it will work."

"To see what you are not is most important. Then what you are will naturally emerge."

"The goal of a good therapist is to help someone wake up from the bad dream that they are their self-image."

"Your thoughts come automatically. It is to the extent you identify with them that they make you their slave. You become the mistress of your thoughts, not when you can control the machine, but when you do not identify with it."

"Emotion will not drive you crazy. What will drive you crazy is the fear of emotion."



Living According to False Beliefs

We all live according to false beliefs. Bringing such beliefs to light is an important step in our deconditioning process. A few random false beliefs:

"Because my father abandoned me when I was a child, I must go through life abandoning the people close to me."

"If I make a mistake, I will die."

"I don't have time to feel what I am feeling, because I have to figure it all out."

"I have to get where I go by suffering."

"When I start to feel good, I must remember to feel bad, because I didn't feel good before."

"Because my mother withheld intimacy from me when I was small, I cannot offer intimacy for the rest of my life."

"If I leave him, I'll die."

"I can't be happy, because if I allow myself to be happy, I might be humiliated."

"I must earn and deserve every good thing I get."