3/23/17
WORDS OF
WISDOM
Steven J. Ceresnie, Ph.D.
MPA Newsletter, Spring 2017
The
following are some observations, ideas, and concepts that have filled my tires with
air over the road covered with the wonder, mystery, and humor of the human
condition:
CHAOTIC WORLD
When Anna Freud was
eighty-five, a depressed young man sent her a lament about the chaotic state of
the world, she sent him a succinct statement of her credo:
“I agree with you
wholeheartedly that things are not as well as you would like them to be.
However, my feeling is that there is only one way to deal with it, namely to
try and be all right with oneself, and to create around one at least a small
circle where matters are arranged as one wants them to be.”
--- Anna Freud
CONDUCT
Don’t be too sweet, lest you be eaten up; don’t
be too bitter, lest you be spewed out.”
--- Yiddish proverb
CONTENTMENT
“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?
---
Steven Wright
“The only way one can allow oneself to be
content is to remember the dead --- and the let them be in on one’s memory.”
---
Elvin Semrad
DEATH
“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are
never going to die because they are never going to be born.”
--- Richard Dawkins
“I’m going to live forever. So far, so good.”
--- Steven Wright
DREAMS
“If
you want your dreams to come true, don’t sleep.”
---
Yiddish proverb
ENJOYMENT
“Enjoy yourself --- it’s later than you think.”
--- Chinese proverb
EXPERIENCE
“To know the road ahead, ask those coming
back.”
--- Chinese proverb
"The mind is its own
place, and in itself can make a hell of heaven, a heaven of hell.”
--- John Milton
“Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers.”
“We are all strong enough to bear the
misfortunes of others.”
---Francois, Sixth Duc, de la Rochefoucauld
GOALS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
“…the least common
denominator of all therapies, and the one to which their claims to success must
depend, is their ability to combat a destructive state of mind which
characterizes persons who seek psychotherapy, whatever their specific symptoms.
The state may be termed demoralization…feelings of helplessness, hopelessness,
impotence, isolation…Since the meaning of life derives from the ties of
individuals with persons whose values they share, alienation may contribute to
a sense of meaninglessness."
--- Jerome Frank
Freud was once asked what he thought a normal
person should be able to do well. The questioner probably expected a
complicated answer. But Freud, in the curt way of his old days, is reported to
have said, “Lieben und arbeiten” (to love and to work).
"A man should not strive to eliminate his
complexes but to get in accord with them; they are legitimately what directs
his conduct in the world.”
--- Sigmund Freud
“The most important task of a human being is to
make up his mind --- what’s for him and what’s not for him.”
--- Elvin Semrad
“…I judge the
success of psychotherapy in two ways. Does the patient’s appearance change?
Does he get new friends?”
--- Leston Havens
HUMOR
“We are all here for a spell; get all the good
laughs you can.”
--- Will Rogers
“A sense of humor is just common sense dancing."
--- William James
“Tragedy
is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open
sewer and die.”
--- Mel Brooks
"I don't use humor with people I don't like. It always comes out wrong."
--- Steven Ceresnie
LIFE
“It’s a very short
trip. While alive, live.”
--- Malcolm Forbes
“Life can be
altered by what a patient HAS – diseases.
Life can be altered
by what a patient IS – personality and intelligence.
Life can be altered
by what a patient DOES --- behaviors.
Life can be altered by what a patient
ENCOUNTERS – life story.”
--- Paul McHugh and Philip Slavney
METAPHOR
OF THE MIND
“The ego’s relation to the id might be compared
to that of a rider to his horse. The horse supplies the locomotive energy,
while the rider has the privilege of deciding on the goals and of guiding the powerful
animal’s movement. But only too often there arises between the ego and the id
the not precisely ideal situation of the rider being obliged to guide the horse
along the path by which itself wants to go.”
--- Sigmund Freud
NOW
“Let’s have a merry journey, and should about
how light is good and dark is not. What we should do is not future ourselves so much. We should now ourselves more. Now you is more important
than Know thyself. Reason is what
tells us to ignore the present and live in the future. So all we do is make
plans. We think that somewhere there are going to be green pastures. It’s
crazy. Heaven is nothing but a grand monumental instance of future. Listen, now is good. Now is wonderful”
--- Mel Brooks
SELF-RELIANCE
“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know
how to live.”
---
Goethe
SCIENCE
“I cannot give any scientist of any age better
advice than this: the intensity of a
conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing on whether it is true or
not.”
--- Sir Peter Medawar
SELF-ESTEEM
AND SELF-RESPECT
“You can have too much self-esteem but not too
much self-respect.”
--- Charles Murray
“Your two-cents is as good as anybody else’s
two-cents.”
--- Anonymous
THEORIES
OF PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPY
“All therapies
attract a loyal following, and I have yet to hear of a school that has
disbanded because it became convinced of the superiority of its rivals.”
--- Jerome Frank
THERAPEUTIC
TECHNIQUE
“Respect is conveyed by mean of all aspects of
the therapist’s behavior and has its basis in the therapist’s self-respect.”
“Do not engage in far-fetched constructions.
Learn to feel comfortable in acknowledging that you are at a loss. It can be a
powerful lesson in reality testing.”
--- Hans Strupp and Jeffrey Binder
"We must help the patient to acknowledge, bear,
and put into perspective his feelings.”
--- Elvin Semrad
“The greatest power of psychotherapy may be
precisely this power not to confirm the patients’ expectations, not to collude
in the games they and their personal world have long played, but, slowly to
turn them toward a more natural and happy course.”
--- Leston Havens
TRUTH
“When
in doubt, tell the truth.”
---
Mark Twain
“As
long as the world is turning and spinning, we're gonna be dizzy and we're gonna
make mistakes.”
---
Mel Brooks
WISDOM
“The art of being wise is to know what to
overlook."
--- William James
“You cannot exert influence if you are not
susceptible to influence.”
--- Carl Jung
“You cannot control the length of your life but
you can control the width.”
--- Anonymous
