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Rachel Naomi Remen

Rachel Naomi Remen Quotes

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Famous Rachel Naomi Remen Quotes

“I suspect that the most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention And especially if it's given from the heart. When people are talking, there's no need to do anything but receive them. Just take them in. Listen to what they're saying. Care about it. Most times caring about it is even more important than understanding it. Most of us don't value ourselves or our love enough to know this.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWayNeedsGivingHeartPersonsImportantEnoughCareValuesGivenUnderstandingPowerfulAttentionTalkingCommunicationImportant ThingsCaringSuspectsOur LoveJust Listen
Book:Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal, 10th Anniversary Edition
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“Ours is not a culture that respects the sick, the old or the vulnerable. We strive for independence, competence, and mastery. In embracing such 'frontier' values, we may become intolerant of human wholeness, contemptuous of anything in ourselves, and in others, that has needs or is capable of suffering. The denial of a vulnerability is the ultimate barrier to compassion.”

NeedsHumansMaySufferingValuesCultureCompassionCapableUltimateSickIndependenceStriveVulnerableDenialVulnerabilityBarriersMasteryWholenessFrontiersCompetenceContemptuous
Author:Rachel Naomi Remen
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“Before every session, I take a moment to remember my humanity. There is no experience that this man has that I cannot share with him, no fear that I cannot understand, no suffering that I cannot care about, because I too am human. No matter how deep his wound, he does not need to be ashamed in front of me. I too am vulnerable. And because of this, I am enough. Whatever his story, he no longer needs to be alone with it. This is what will allow his healing to begin. (Carl Rogers)”

MenNeedsHumansDoeMatterEnoughMomentsStoriesCareRememberSufferingHumanityHealingShareFrontsWoundsVulnerableAshamedNo FearSessionRoger
Author:Rachel Naomi Remen
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“I have even learned to respond to someone crying by just listening. In the old days I used to reach for the tissues, until I realized that passing a person a tissue may be just another way to shut them down, to take them out of their experience of sadness and grief. Now I just listen. When they have cried all they need to cry, they find me there with them.”

WayNeedsMayPersonsUsedGriefSadnessCryListeningI RealizedPassingPassingsCriedAnother WayFind MeOld DaysJust ListenTissues
Book:Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal, 10th Anniversary Edition
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“A woman once told me that she did not feel the need to reach out to those around her because she prayed every day. Surely, this was enough. But a prayer is about our relationship to God; a blessing is about our relationship to the spark of God in one another. God may not need our attention as badly as the person next to us on the bus or behind us in line in the supermarket. Everyone in the world matters, and so do their blessings. When we bless others, we offer them refuge from an indifferent world.”

WorldNeedsFeelsMayPersonsMatterEnoughNextCommunityLinesPrayerBehindsAttentionBlessingOffersBlessBusSparksReach OutOur RelationshipRefugeIndifferentSupermarkets
Author:Rachel Naomi Remen
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“Freedom is as frightening now as it was thousands of years ago. It will always require a willingness to sacrifice what is most familiar for what is most true. To be free we may need to act from integrity, on trust, sometimes for a very long time. Few of us will reach our promised land in a day. But perhaps the most important part of the story is that God does not delegate this task. Whenever anyone moves toward freedom, God Himself is there.”

NeedsYearsMayLongDoeImportantSometimesStoriesMovingFreedomSacrificeLandIntegrityLong TimeYears AgoTasksFamiliarWillingnessFrighteningDelegatesPromised LandWillingness To Sacrifice
Author:Rachel Naomi Remen
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