To Be a Therapist

“A therapist must find a way to follow the rules of his clinical profession and also be a therapist, and at times the two are incompatible. Similarly, to be both human and a professional expert is a difficult task for some therapists. Because the situations a therapist encounters are so various, he needs a wide range of behavior. Sometimes he must take charge; at other times he must be helpless so that others will take charge. He must be serious but at times introduce humor; he must be flirtatious at one moment and distant at another. One of the therapist’s tasks is to be intensely involved in a situation at one moment and to sit on the periphery of it in the next. Sometimes the therapist must be repetitive, insisting over and over on the same behavior; at other times he must be changeable and not offer the same directive twice.” --Jay Haley in Leaving Home: the Therapy of Disturbed Young People, pg. 281

Discipline and Wisdom

Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die. Punish them with the rod and save them from death.

My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad indeed; my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

—Proverbs 23:12-16

Difficult Trials

“Difficult trials are merely challenges which most other people will be unwilling or unable to overcome, but which I, with tenacity, resilience, and discipline, will prevail over, thereby earning the rewards envied by many and attained by few. When I come up against a difficulty, I have learned to think, ‘Good. This is an opportunity to move ahead of those less capable and less motivated individuals who will give up, even though I will not.’” —Steven R. Hobbs

Distractions and Meals

“Healthy distractions are like gourmet meals; they demand something of you in time, preparation, patience, and effort, and they contribute to your long-term growth and well-being. Unhealthy distractions are like junk food; they demand very little of you in time, preparation, patience, and effort, and leave you feeling unfulfilled and regretful in the long-term.” —Steven R. Hobbs