Epicurus addressed the unending and unsatisfying search for novel activities by urging that we store and recall deeply etched memories of pleasant experiences.

progress is merely a construct; there are other ways to conceptualize history. The ancient Greeks did not subscribe to the idea of progress: on the contrary, they looked backward toward a golden age that blazed more brightly with thepassing centuries. The sudden realization that upward progress is but a myth can be jolting, as it was for Pat, and e

By allowing a patient to teach him, Dr. Whitehorn related to the person, rather than to the pathology, of that patient. His strategy invariably enhanced both the patient's self-regard and his or her willingness to be self-revealing.

"We're close to the end of the hour, and I'd like to focus a bit on how the two of us are doing today. How do you feelabout the space between us today?" Or "How much distance is there between us today?"

have come to understand that one may repress not just sexuality but one's whole creaturely self and especially its finite nature.

"Why so self-referential?" they often ask. "Why refer everything back to the unreal relationship with the therapist?

frantically holding on to everything he had ever had,

Attempts to preserve personal identity are always futile. Transiency is forever. Rippling, as I use it, refersinstead to leaving behind something from your life experience; some trait; some piece of wisdom, guidance, virtue, comfort that passes on to others, known or unknown.

locate and revitalize neglected parts of himself, ranging from his poetic gifts to his thirst for an intimate social network.