The degree to which I can create relationships, which facilitate the growth of others as separate persons, is a measure of the growth I have achieved in myself.
Carl RogersRead
The state of empathy, or being empathic, is to perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Empathy involves deeply understanding another person's feelings and perspectives as if they were your own.
Carl Rogers highlights that empathy is more than just feeling sorry for someone; it requires accurately perceiving and internalizing their emotional experiences and viewpoints. It allows individuals to connect on a deeper level, fostering genuine understanding and compassion in relationships.
Themes
EmpathyUnderstandingRelationshipsPerspectiveCompassion
In practice
Example use cases
In a therapy session, a counselor may use this quote to remind clients of the importance of understanding their loved ones' feelings.
More from Carl Rogers
All quotes →The kind of caring that the client-centered therapist desires to achieve is a gullible caring, in which clients are accepted as they say they are, not with a lurking suspicion in the therapist's mind that they may, in fact, be otherwise. This attitude is not stupidity on the therapist's part; it is the kind of attitude that is most likely to lead to trust.
Carl RogersRead
I prize the privilege of being alone.
Carl RogersRead
Though modern Marriage is a tremendous laboratory, its members are often without preparation for the partnership function. How much agony and remorse and failure could have been avoided if there had been at least some rudimentary learning before they entered the partnership.
Carl RogersRead
I have come to think that one of the most satisfying experiences I know — and also one of the most growth-promoting experiences for the other person — is just fully to appreciate this individual in the same way that I appreciate a sunset.
Carl RogersRead
In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?
Carl RogersRead
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