You have learned what you have learned very well. It has helped you survive.

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Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible - the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.

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I have talked about choosing rather than acting from compulsion. When you feel that you have to live according to someone else's direction or live so that you never disappoint or hurt anybody, then your life is a continual assessment of whether or not you please other people.

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It is now clear to me that the family is a microcosm of the world. To understand the world, we can study the family: issues such as power, intimacy, autonomy, trust, and communication skills are vital parts underlying how we live in the world. To change the world is to change the family.

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What lingers from the parent's individual past, unresolved or incomplete, often becomes part of her or his irrational parenting.

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It's sad that children cannot know their parents when they were younger; when they were loving, courting, and being nice to one another. By the time children are old enough to observe, the romance has all too often faded or gone underground.

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We get together on the basis of our similarities; we grow on the basis of our differences.

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The message sent is not always the message received.

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Many people are living in an emotional jail without realizing it.

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We can learn something new anytime we believe we can.

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