Quotessence
Home / Authors / Rachel Naomi Remen
Rachel Naomi Remen

Rachel Naomi Remen Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllMayPeopleWayKnowsListeningNeedsAttentionHealingStoriesLife IsPersonsSilenceThinkingIfsImportantPainValuesBlessingHas BeensHeal

Famous Rachel Naomi Remen Quotes

“Everybody is a story. When I was a child, people sat around kitchen tables and told their stories. We don't do that so much anymore. Sitting around the table telling stories is not just a way of passing time. It is the way the wisdom gets passed along. The stuff that helps us to live a life worth remembering.”

PeopleWayChildrenHelpingStoriesRememberStuffCommunitySittingTablesPassingPassingsSatKitchenTelling StoriesSitting AroundKitchen Table
Book:Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal, 10th Anniversary Edition
Create image

“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
Create image

“When we haven't the time to listen to each other's stories we seek out experts to tell us how to live. The less time we spend together at the kitchen table, the more how-to books appear in the stores and on our bookshelves. But reading such books is a very different thing than listening to someone' s lived experience. Because we have stopped listening to each other we may even have forgotten how to listen, stopped learning how to recognize meaning and fill ourselves from the ordinary events of our lives. We have become solitary; readers and watchers rather than sharers and participants.”

MayBookDifferentStoriesTogetherReadingOur LivesEventsHavensListeningReaderOrdinaryTablesForgottenStoresExpertsKitchenDifferent ThingsSolitaryParticipantsWatchersBookshelvesKitchen Table
Book:Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal, 10th Anniversary Edition
Create image

“One of my patients told me that when she tried to tell her story people often interrupted her to tell her that they once had something just like that happen to them. Subtly her pain became a story about themselves. Eventually she stopped talking to most people. It was just too lonely. We connect through listening. When we interrupt what someone is saying to let them know that we understand, we move the focus of attention to ourselves. When we listen, they know we care. Many people with cancer talk about the relief of having someone just listen.”

PeopleKnowsStoriesHappensCarePainMovingAttentionTalkingFocusListeningLonelyPatientCancerReliefInterruptedJust ListenStory PeoplePeople With Cancer
Author:Rachel Naomi Remen
Create image

“For many years now I have listened to the stories of people with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses as their counselor. From them I have learned how to enjoy the minute particulars of life once again, the grace of a hot cup of coffee, the presence of a friend, the blessing of having a new cake of soap or an hour without pain. Such humble experience is the stuff that many of the very best stories are made of. If we think we have no stories it is because we have not paid enough attention to our lives. Most of us live lives that are far richer and more meaningful than we appreciate.”

PeopleIfsThinkingYearsMadeEnoughStoriesPainStuffEnjoyHoursAttentionGraceOur LivesMinutesPerspectiveBlessingAppreciatePaidHotCancerIllnessHumbleCoffeeMeaningfulCupsLive LifeCakeI Have LearnedThreateningSoapCoffee CupCounselorWithout PainPeople With Cancer
Author:Rachel Naomi Remen
Create image

“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
Create image

“Until we stop ourselves or, more often, have been stopped, we hope to put certain of life's events "behind us" and get on with our living. After we stop we see that certain of life's issues will be with us for as long as we live. We will pass through them again and again, each time with a new story, each time with a greater understanding, until they become indistinguishable from our blessings and our wisdom. It's the way life teaches us to live.”

WayLongHas BeensStoriesWisdomCertainUnderstandingBehindsTeachIssuesGreaterEventsBlessingAgain And AgainLife Teaches
Book:Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal, 10th Anniversary Edition
Create image