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Going to therapy can be a wonderful step in taking care of your mental health and learning healthy coping mechanisms. Sometimes, all we need is an unbiased, outside perspective to help us work through trauma, sort out our fears and uncertainties and remind us that we are enough just the way we are. I often leave a therapy session feeling 10 pounds lighter than I did an hour prior, as I’ve been reminded that I don’t have to let stress be a massive burden on my shoulders.

But the thing about therapy is that we don’t all have the time, money or resources available to go. It can be incredibly expensive if not covered by insurance, difficult to squeeze into your schedule, and finding a therapist who you mesh with can be a long and arduous process. That’s why it’s so great when people pass along the wisdom and life lessons they’ve gleaned from their therapists!

Down below, we’ve got a list of some of the best knowledge Reddit users have heard from therapy, as well as an interview we were lucky enough to receive from Randy Withers, LCMHC. This article may not be as effective as a weekly one-on-one session while laying on a chaise longue, but there are still plenty of insightful words that can give you a fresh perspective. Be sure to upvote the advice you would have paid money for, and let us know in the comments if you’ve ever learned any golden nuggets of wisdom from therapy. Then if you’d like to have even more free therapy, check out this Bored Panda article next!

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About The fact that you are high functioning doesn't mean that your illness is easier for you to deal with, it means it's easier for others to deal with.

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To gain more insight on this topic, we reached out to Randy Withers, LCMHC. Randy is a Board-Certified and Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in private practice in North Carolina. He is also the Managing Editor of Blunt Therapy, a blog about mental health. Randy was kind enough to shine some light on the topic of therapy, and noted that although it can be an incredibly useful tool, "Therapy is not, in fact, for everyone."

"People with certain types of developmental disorders, certain types of psychotic disorders, and people with Narcissistic and Antisocial Personality Disorders are often not appropriate for therapy," Randy explained. "People who are forced to go to therapy don't tend to get good results from it, either. Having said that, it is fair to say that the vast majority of adolescents and adults can benefit tremendously from therapy, if for no other reason than people tend to benefit from the strong sense of social connection that therapy provides."

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#2

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About When my sweetheart of 43 years was diagnosed with stage IV cancer I gave up everything to care for her. Overwhelmed with grief and exhaustion, I found myself having suicidal thoughts. I sought counseling.

One evening I had a thought that felt like a solenoid firing in my brain:

"Just because the love of my life could be dying, that doesn't mean I have to stop living."

I started building in mini-vacations every day. Play music. Ride a motorcycle. Fly a drone. Tell a joke.

We both survived.

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#3

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About “You do not have to attend every argument you are invited to.” Best advice ever 💜

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Randy also opened up with Bored Panda about some of his own experiences with therapy. "I have struggled with depression, anxiety, and post traumatic stress for most of my adult life. I have seen several different therapists, and most have have been quite helpful. For me, a good therapist provides much-needed insight, education, and support," he noted.

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"I like to process life issues with my current therapist, Kim. I appreciate getting a neutral but informed point of view about whatever it is that I'm processing with her. Some therapists have literally saved my life. It's one of the reasons I got into this field."
#4

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About Sometimes, when we procrastinate, it's because we need to feel control, even when the only thing we can control is choosing not to do something - even when it contributes to making our situation worse. Took me years to come to terms with that one.

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#5

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About When I start the negative self talk, I was told to pretend I am talking to my wonderful and sweet 5yo little boy. I could never say the s**t I say to myself to my son. The therapist told me to envision someone telling my boy what I say to myself and how would I react. It was eye opening as to how we are our own worst boogeyman.

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Laura Ketteridge
Laura Ketteridge
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I heard a variation on this. Imagine Donald Trump is saying all the negative things. It's so much easier to tell him where to go!

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One thing I noticed from reading the responses on this Reddit post was that many people mentioned how a therapist can say something incredibly insightful that suddenly seems like it should have been obvious all along. So we asked Randy if he could explain this experience a bit. "This can happen for a number of reasons, but what I tend to see is that people tend to have assumptions that guide their thinking. Many of us never bother to challenge these assumptions and are awestruck when we realize how our thinking contributes to our anxiety and depression," he explained.

"I've noticed that for many of my male clients, they are so busy trying to please their wives or girlfriends that they are shocked to discover that their feelings and needs actually matter, too," Randy noted. "It is amazing to me how many men never realize such a basic truth. People also tell things to therapists that they have literally never told anyone else. Secrets are toxic, and simply relieving oneself of that burden is by itself an impactful experience for most of my clients."

"Our minds can be dangerous weapons, especially if we don't know how to use them," he added. "Our brains are hardwired to focus on the negative. Most of us don't realize just how much suffering our thoughts cause us."

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#6

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About that my past trauma and upbringing aren't excuses for my bad behavior, and i have to be the one to break the cycle

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Alicia M
Alicia M
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think it's crazy all the problems people have that are really from childhood trauma. I've been on a sort of emotional self journey. Lots to unpack there. Just because you come from a crazy family does not mean you have to carry on that tradition. I hope to be the one to break the cycle in my family. I'm pretty much doing the exact opposite of how I was raised. I don't want my kids to ever feel the way I did.

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#7

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About The brain isn't designed to keep us happy. It's designed to keep us alive.

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Deborah B
Deborah B
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not even. It's designed to keep a stoneage hunter/gatherer in a tribe of 200 alive.

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We also asked Randy if there were any particularly insightful things he's been told by therapists that stuck with him. "Years ago, a therapist told me resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die. That stuck with me," he shared. "Many adolescents need to hear that their parents' divorce was not their fault. So do survivors of domestic violence, abuse, and sexual assault. For whatever reason, victims of these types of crimes tend to feel an enormous amount of guilt and shame."

"But in general, the one thing I think everyone needs to hear is 'You matter. A lot.'," Randy added.

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#8

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About People's actions towards you are a reflection of themselves, not you.

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Michael Largey
Michael Largey
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This would serve as a fine justification for a complete sociopath.

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#9

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About Your internal monologue isn’t always reliable, especially when you are anxious or depressed.

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Randy also wanted to remind readers that therapy is not an immediate cure for any of our issues or struggles. "Therapy requires a lot of work outside the session to be impactful," he told Bored Panda. "Talking to a therapist without making behavioral and lifestyle changes is like talking to a personal trainer and then not going to the gym. It's never a waste of time, but you'll get so much more out of it if you do the work."

If you'd like to hear more wise words from Randy, be sure to visit Blunt Therapy's website right here.

#10

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About Give yourself permission to grieve.

Not just for the loss of loved ones, but for anything that makes you feel sad.

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#11

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About The five-minute rule. Try something you usually enjoy but don't currently have the motivation to do for five minutes. Set a timer; if you're not enjoying it after five minutes, it's okay to stop. A five-minute challenge seems way more doable when you're unwell than longer ones.

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#12

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About When you place unexpressed expectations on someone, YOU are the one setting yourself up to be let down.

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Powerful Katrinka
Powerful Katrinka
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I heard a great variation of this: Unexpressed expectations are just resentments under construction.

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Personally, I've always had wonderful experiences in therapy, but I understand that it's not possible for everyone. So today, we'll settle for "trickle-down therapy" online. Be sure to upvote all of the responses that resonate with you, and feel free to share more insightful words you've gleaned from therapy in the comments below. Let's prioritize our mental health, pandas! Then, if you want to check out another Bored Panda article featuring advice from therapists that might give you a fresh perspective, we recommend reading this piece next.

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#13

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About No one sees the version of you that you see of yourself.

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#14

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About Friends will come and go. Family, in different ways, can and will do the same.

You're the only constant youre going to have in your life.

Be a friend to yourself. You wouldnt say any of the negative things to your friends that you say to yourself.

Learn to pick yourself up when you're down, but also allow yourself to be human.

It's difficult, but it's one of the most important things I've learned in my life as someone who suffers from Major Depression Disorder, and who beat himself up way more than I should have.

leroy_hoffenfeffer , Samson Katt Report

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Pizzagirl 91
Pizzagirl 91
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's much harder to be forgiving with yourself than with other people. Most people don't remember your mistakes, why should your hold onto them?

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#15

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About My psychologist told me that learning new skills and knowledge, or establishing a new habit, creates a new neural pathway in your brain. It's like hacking your way through a jungle; it takes a lot of time, effort, and energy to reach your destination (or achieve your goal). However, every time you do the thing, you reinforce that same neural pathway in your brain. As it is reinforced it becomes easier to fire up those neurons again, and thus, it becomes easier to do the thing. The jungle is still dense, but it is a little easier to follow the same path that you created yesterday, and every time you take that path it becomes a little more clear. Eventually the behaviour may become so automatic that it requires no effort at all to follow that path.

With respect to breaking a habit, or overcoming addiction: it takes serious effort to stray from your path, once it is established. Taking a new path means hacking through thick jungle again, but this time it requires even more effort because you know you could just follow the old, established path.

This analogy has helped me quit smoking, study for exams, and establish a walking routine when I was too depressed to move. If all you get out of doing the hard thing is the benefit of having done the hard thing one time, it hardly seems worth the effort. It's tempting to put it off until later. But if every successful attempt to do the hard thing makes that path easier to follow, it really is worth starting now. The reward is not just the infinitesimally small health benefits of 10 more minutes without smoking; the reward is actually proportional to the effort put in, because that is how much progress you have made towards your goal. Taking the easy path started to seem like a really dumb idea. Stubbornness kicked in and I started achieving goals.

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Tamra
Tamra
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is also one reason why addictions are so hard to break. Not only is that pathway ingrained, but there's usually a reward (drinking, smoking, etc).

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#16

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About Progress, not perfection

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Izzi C
Izzi C
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I needed this. I strive for perfection yet all anyone is asking of me is progress.

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#17

That my mental illness isn’t my fault, but it is my responsibility.

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#18

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About I was feeling a lot of pressure and guilt from my mom because she wanted me to do something for her that I really didn't want to do. One of my therapists (who heard a lot about my relationship with my mom) made a simple statement that really helped:

"If your mom wants you to do things for her, maybe she should be nicer to you."

It sounds so obvious, but because of mom's continuously using guilt to raise me and my siblings to feel shame, I had a hard time saying no.

This little idea really turned things around for me, not just between me and my mom, but also for other people in my life who like to treat me badly and keep expecting me to come back for more.

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Samantha Williamson
Samantha Williamson
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One of the most profound things my therapist ever said to me with regard to my mother's "crazy, guilty tripping, throwing things I had told her in confidence back in my face, cruelty, etc" was most enlightening, especially since I had children by then. She said: What would a good mother (or parent) do/have done? That changed how I viewed how she'd treated me differently, knowing I'd not ever do that to my own children.

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#19

“You can watch people on their rollercoaster, you don’t have to ride it with them”

Works for all kinds of people/relationships in your life making things dramatic. This was said to me by a therapist almost 10 years ago and I still think about it all the time. It really helps put things in perspective.

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Ashli Rusaw
Ashli Rusaw
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've always heard a different one but it has the same vibe. "Not my circus, not my monkeys."

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#20

*”Neither the past, present or future can be changed through my overthinking.”*

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LisaMarie
LisaMarie
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I overthink absolutely everything, and everything I ever overthink about (I.e. that something is gonna turn out bad) actually turns out to be okay and the overthinking and stressing was pointless. But I still cannot break the habit of doing it.

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#21

I don’t have to try to attack every negative feeling. Sometimes it’s okay to just be like “oh, hey sadness, I see ya” or “oh, alright panic, run your course while I finish doing what I’m doing.”

Acceptance therapy was the most powerful thing I ever did.

CBT, self-talk... it made me worse. Learning to just acknowledge the emotion and move on with my life was life-changing.

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Pizzagirl 91
Pizzagirl 91
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's important to accept your feelings, while also realising that they don't control you. You can feel anger without acting on it. You can be happy, while also supporting a grieving friend. You can be sad, and cry, but don't have to suffocate in sadness. It's a balancing act, like so much else in life...

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#22

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About I have had a long time issue (10+ years) of what I now know is negative intrusive thoughts. I thought I was a monster for getting these thoughts to hurt myself and other people all the time. I suppressed them for a long time and accepted the fact the I was a bad person who was eventually going to do something awful one day. I never asked for help due to the fear of being discovered as a freak and in my head it was better to live with being a freak than ask anyone and risk being found out. I later tried to commit s**cide and even after that I couldn't tell a therapist how I was feeling and the full story of why I tried to commit s**cide. Skip forward a couple of years and while my depression had gotten a bit better, the thoughts were as bad as ever. I got into an argument with my parents and in a heated moment I told them how I get the urge to hurt myself and other people on a day to day basis. After a long talk I found a different therapist and went on a different anti depressant which helps treat OCD. It turned out that these thoughts aren't abnormal and don't make me a freak, I just got them more than most people and they could be managed. My therapist gave me the best advice I still try to follow on a day to day basis. Be more generous to yourself. I spent so much of my life thinking I was a monster and a freak that had no chance of being normal, that I never let myself feel good because I didn't deserve it. I am learning to be kind to myself and allow myself to enjoy my successes and to not beat myself up over my failures. It's harder than it sound to not hate yourself when you have for so long, but I just have to remind myself that I need to treat myself with as much value and respect I give to other people at a minimum. Hopefully my story can help someone else who needs it.

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Andrea Careless
Andrea Careless
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A loved one has OCD, and for a long time he had lots of dark, destructive and anxious thoughts that played over and over in his mind, and tortured him. He too thought he was am awful person. His therapist told him that we all have dark, etc. thoughts, but the “door” in our brain is mostly closed. The door in someone with OCD is wide open. That helped him a lot, along with learning ways to deal with the thoughts. He’s way better now.

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#23

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About Sometimes the healthiest thing is to walk away

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Celtic Pirate Queen
Celtic Pirate Queen
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I turned and walked out on a supervisor once. He caught up with me and basically asked WTF? I told him straight up, "you just keep repeating the problem and blaming me for it instead of offering a solution. I don't need all that negativity". Most people would have been fired, but I was an outside contractor and he didn't have the authority to do that. Just him up right quick, though.

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#24

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About I was going on about something an ex had done that hurt me. I backpedaled a bit and said something like "I want to give them the benefit of the doubt." My therapist said, "Hey. I'm going to stop you there. I've noticed that you give EVERYONE the benefit of the doubt. Except for yourself. You have to be kind to yourself, you know?" Blew my freaking mind. Started bawling my eyes out, really freed me in a way.

hideos_playhouse , cottonbro studio Report

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Kel_how
Kel_how
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Going to therapy helps you BE SEEN! It's so freeing and helps you notice and voice your thought and behavior patterns. A good therapist should remind you that you're human and that you deserve love and respect, especially from yourself.

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#25

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About We seek what is familiar to us, even if it’s really unhealthy. There is a comfort in familiarity because it’s what we know / learned how to deal with.

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#26

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About That you can’t control how people act towards you, but you can control how you react to them.
It’s something I use with my 9 and 6 year old to help them and it’s so effective.

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John Bell
John Bell
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People can only hurt you emotionally if you care what they think. You give them the powe and can thus take it away. Realized this in 9th grade.

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#27

I was talking to my therapist about how I absorb the moods of my husband and children. It was near impossible for me to be happy if even one of them was in a bad mood. My therapist told me that they do not have to be okay for me to be okay. This was life-changing to me, one of those moments when time slows down because you can finally see through the fog. My husband can be in a bad mood because of work, and I can be okay. My pre-teen son can be a moody kid, and I can be okay. Recognizing this has already started to transform my relationships.

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Michael Largey
Michael Largey
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Being okay when loved ones are not is an advantage when you are trying to help them be okay.

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#28

My needs and wants are valid and worth voicing

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#29

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About That I needed to forgive myself for past childhood trauma.

It sounds stupid but we Cary that s**t for the rest of our lives.

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#30

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About That we're all f****d up in some way, and it's not worth beating yourself up thinking you're some kind of monster. Acceptance of this was huge to me.

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#31

Shame is not a good motivator. When you beat yourself up for making a mistake, all it does is make you feel worse. To truly improve, you have to be kind to yourself.

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Mary Rogers
Mary Rogers
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's because we take on shame as an identity. The difference between guilt and shame is that guilt says "I made a mistake" and shame says "I am a mistake." And if we believe that we are a mistake then we just give up.

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#32

It’s probably pretty obvious but it wasn’t for me. She said that not everything is either “good” or “bad”, but there are a lot of things that are just neutral. For example, saying “no” to a person’s request is not bad, it’s just neutral. I was so used to seeing everything in black and white that I had never even considered this.

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John Bell
John Bell
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Reality is neutral. The spacetime continuum doesn't know or care about your problems.

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#33

You have a limited amount of energy and time in any given day — and you get to choose where you place that energy. Think of it like chips at a roulette table. When I feel angry thoughts about a news article, hear an opinion I disagree with, come across an asshole driving on the freeway...all of these things take energy, my chips, which are an extremely limited resource. Place your chips wisely. I stop myself many times a day from using mine now, and I’m much happier.

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poiplescales
poiplescales
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is awesome. I like this better than the bank account illustration.

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#34

Before going to therapy, I felt it was their job to solve my problems and I would be better. I was wrong. They’re there to talk me through it and give me the tools to deal with them myself. I learned nobody can fix my problems except me. I can blame everyone all I want, but at the end of the day it’s my responsibility to be willing and to make an effort to fix myself.

Now whenever I start getting anxiety or stress or anything, I have the tools to walk myself through it and not rely on others. It’s nice to have someone to help or talk to, but it’s up to me to change how I view things and act in response.

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#35

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About Be kind to yourself.

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#36

People aren't nearly as concerned about everything I'm doing as I think they are. They're busy enough being self conscious about their own behaviors.

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Pizzagirl 91
Pizzagirl 91
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Try to remember anything embarrassing about your friends. Most things will be gone, right? That's how little people remember your most embarrassing moments.

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#37

Separate anxious thoughts from reality. Instead of “I’m a terrible person” say, “I am having a thought that I am a terrible person.”

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Walter Brameld
Walter Brameld
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Recognize that your thoughts are not reality. They are just _stories_. That's what I tell myself when I catch myself in the act of negative self-thinking: "Oh look, I'm telling myself stories again."

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#38

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About Other people's opinions of you are NOT facts

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#39

Sometimes ending a relationship is better than trying to heal one

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Michael Largey
Michael Largey
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Attempting to save some relationships is like trying CPR at the autopsy.

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#40

you can walk away. you can say no.

you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, be with anyone you don’t want to be with. it’s okay to choose yourself

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#41

The oxygen mask concept. Basically you have to put on your own “mask” first by improving your mental health and doing what’s best for you before you can assist others and help them with their lives. Really made me take a step back from getting involved in other people’s problems because it wouldn’t benefit me or my health.

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#42

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About Routine really is the best way to get out of some depressive episodes. I had a good job and some good work friends around me, but I just wasn't happy. However I was working from home and just getting up and working and then finishing for the day, but when I decided to get up earlier and get dressed and have something to eat, I enjoyed my job a bit more than before

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#43

i forget who created this, but the “even though, nevertheless” method helped me out a lot. i still remember it in my every day life. example: even though my room is a mess, nevertheless, i kept myself clean and showered today. it’s taking a negative thought or something you’re upset about, and contradicting it with something you can be happy about.

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#44

That maybe the only thing wrong with you is being convinced that there’s something wrong with you.

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poiplescales
poiplescales
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's interesting. I have come across mostly people on the other end of the spectrum, extremely unwell but determined to bull through.

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#45

I remember learning about this really neat thought experiment.

First, think about the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you. Don't think too long or hard, just come up with something.

Now, think of a close person in your life and imagine the most embarrassing thing that's happened to them.

The second one takes a lot longer. We all think about ourselves - and critique ourselves - way more than we do to others.

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#46

Don't judge your feelings, just try to understand where they're coming from. Judge your actions.

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#47

Every past version of yourself is an ancestor you need to honor.

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Brocken Blue
Brocken Blue
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh wow… didn’t expect this one to hit quit so well but, it is weird how looking at it this way lets my mind actually consider self-acceptance

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#48

Closure does not and can not come from other people. It grows from within you. Only you can give yourself closure.

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#49

You have to communicate. Keeping it bottled up is not going to solve the problem.

-hf

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#50

That it wasn’t my fault.

I got bullied hard for a year in grade school. Basically, teacher didn’t give any f***s, so kids teed off on me literally every day until I ran out of the class screaming.

I lived 18 years after that having internalized that 1) this was entirely my fault and 2) I am a monster waiting to explode.

It wasn’t until I was working with a therapist when I was like 28 or so that she said to me “you know all that wasn’t your fault, right” and it hit me like a sack of bricks. I had literally fully internalized it as a gigantic flaw in me, and it’s only been in the last few years I’ve been able to start actually healing from it.

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#51

The “I” vs “You” method.

When explaining your feelings to someone instead of saying YOU did this, this, and this and it’s all your fault.

Instead, you opt for I, I don’t like when you said _____ because it made me feel like ________ .

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troufaki13
troufaki13
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But on the other hand, how is the other person's responsibility the way you feel? It's a genuine question

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#52

"We can't convince a criminal he was wrong with physical violence, so why do we try to do that with children? How are they supposed to separate "I love you but I'm going to hurt you"? How does pain teach where words failed or worse, weren't even attempted? Why do parents act like the way they were raised is without flaw and should be followed to a T?"

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Brandie Litchfield
Brandie Litchfield
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We have all come from a long line of generational trauma, bad coping skills passed on and on. It feels good to break the cycle, to give your children better

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#53

You’re not crazy, you’re just a sane person reacting to a crazy world.

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Brandie Litchfield
Brandie Litchfield
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You are not crazy. You are having a normal reaction to an abnormal situation.

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#54

If you take good thoughts with a grain of salt why not also take the bad with a grain of salt? Hear it, recognize it, and let it leave.

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#55

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About We do what we know, and when we know better we do better.

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#56

Remember that change is inevitable. Nothing ever stays the same. The only constant in life is change. Some changes are swift and brutal for example bereavement. Others are more subtle like the changing seasons. So with this in mind I've always loved Arnold Bennett's quote...
That any change, even a change for the better is always accompanied with setbacks and discomfort.

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Brandie Litchfield
Brandie Litchfield
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"As in nature, what does not bend with the wind, will break." Everything in nature is in a constant state of motion or growth. "Walk as if each step is a prayer to the Earth". Yet human nature resists change, even changes made for the better can give us great anxiety!

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#57

30 Of The Most Brilliant Things People Realized In Therapy That They Felt Everyone Should Know About Not everything you think is true.

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Looks
Looks
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is me. It's crazy how my brain is like my worst enemy right now. All the pain and hurt I have been going through is because of the atmosphere my thoughts have created.

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#58

Saying No to stuff doesn’t need to be backed up with an excuse.

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#59

The 2 most effective antidepressants for me are excercise and nature.

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#60

Two opposite things can be true at the same time. You can love and hate the same person

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#61

Your ego is not your amigo.

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#62

To think: what if things go well? It's so easy to imagine the worst, but I always feel better after also imagining things going well.

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#63

I can live with/ accept what I went through because I like where and who I am now (mostly). That was a huge success.

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Adam Zad
Adam Zad
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Martel: "You'll never be more than a replacement player!" Falco: "Yeah. Yeah, I can live with that."

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#64

When asking yourself why you want or feel a certain thing or way, coming up with the answer 'I don't know' means you've found a spot to dig into.

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#65

Meditation, mindfulness, self-compassion. These are not buzzwords. They're words to live by.

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#66

Fake it until you make it is a valid way of eventually adopting healthy mindsets and perspectives. It just needs someone professional, someone detached, to basically open up that toxic living space you call your mind for you, and challenge you on the lie that'll eventually become truth is at least better than this s**thole you're choosing for yourself. Because we take a lot of f****d-up pride in living in our own self-torment.

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#67

Just because it's different doesn't mean it's wrong

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#68

I would say the main thing is it's practice in having a particular kind of conversation. Once I'd shared my innermost thoughts and fears with a therapist and been met with love and acceptance, I felt more able to do the same thing with other people in my life.

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#69

Negative/positive thinking aren’t gimmicks.

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#70

Just because your comfortable doesn’t mean you’re happy. Sometimes you’re happiness will be more important than your comfort and sometimes your comfort will be more important than your happiness.

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