Quotes About Empathy

So what if Brian made me feel like fireworks were going off inside me. He could also make me feel like a big fat clod of heartsick dirt. It was like he could take any emotion I had and make it ten times stronger. Which is great when it's happiness but pretty darn awful if it's anything sad.

Oh. Listen, this is really hard for me . . . " "What is?" "You know. Being liked." I started to cry. I couldn't help it.

I'd promised myself that I'd really work on talking more, talking about uncomfortable things, because I could see from Brian how well things could work out if you did.

Still, I couldn't get over Dad calling those farmers. People might think helping is hard, but really that's the easy part; just look how good it makes people feel. Look how happy all those Red Bend ladies were about chipping in. It's the asking that's so painful. It takes real courage, real strength , to say you're not strong enough to do it alone. Mom must really be hurting for Dad to be so brave.

I swear, every person I know gets far more satisfaction from doing good deeds than receiving them. Maybe that's the whole point in the end, all of us putting up with good deeds, tolerating them as best we can, counting the minutes until we have the opportunity to reciprocate.

It was like he could take any emotion I had and make it ten times stronger. Which is great when it's happiness but pretty darn awful if it's anything sad.

People who don't feel pain can't feel joy.

When you go from fearing your mother to feeling sorry for her, it usually means you've travelled a long way toward recovery.

When someone says they don't care if you're sexually satisfied and they don't care if you want to go to nice restaurants instead of car races, they're at least indifferent and unkind. He was nice when you were dating and until he got your dad's money.

Laura, you're demanding that I act like the parent you had, the man who was uninterested in your pain. You're used to no one responding to your sadness, but I don't want that role. Right now I feel in a bind.

One was the rule of human nature: You get what you give. That phrase galvanized her. She'd had no idea that she had the right to give her mother only what she received from her—which was precious little.

Part of the Native ethos is not to compete or flaunt your success: it could make someone less able feel bad. It's fine to be on a hockey team, but it's insensitive to cheer for your own team since it could offend the other team.

Why don't you picture pushing away all your defences and just sit with the question 'Why am I still nice to my mother?' And then see what floats into your mind.

I was beginning to see that it didn't matter at all if I knew what was wrong with a client. The art of therapy is getting the client to see it.

Psychopaths lack empathy, have a superficial charm and a grandiose sense of self-worth, and are pathological liars. As

Psychopaths lack empathy, have a superficial charm and a grandiose sense of self-worth, and are pathological liars. As well, they are cunning and manipulative, lack remorse, are emotionally shallow, refuse to accept responsibility for their actions, and indulge in a parasitic lifestyle.

Peter hadn't been treated as a person, and so, eventually, he didn't experience himself as one.

Is it better to feel or to maintain your sanity?

A tiny shred of empathy from me was too much for her—it terrified her. And it was a deal breaker.

They all needed to feel loved in order to live better lives.

Anger is a signal that someone wants to be treated differently, which is healthy; cruelty is when we deliberately want to hurt someone else.

There is no greater generosity than sharing your life story. If sharing my story helps even one person that's suffering, it would have been worth it.

If you point out a "truth," for want of a better word, to patients before they're able to hear or admit it, they lose trust in the therapist; their defences take over, and they improve only superficially. Overinterpreting to the client is the sign of a new or insecure therapist. A therapist can lead patients to the door of understanding, but they shouldn't drag them in. Their patients will enter when they're ready.

powerlessness in a relationship is one of the main causes of stress or anxiety.