Passage

A Harvard psychologist once asked Amos Tversky why he became a psychologist. “It’s hard to know how people select a course in life,” he said. “The big choices we make are practically random. The small choices tell us more about who we are. Which field we go into may depend on which high school teacher we happen to meet. Who we marry may depend on w... See more

Emotional competence requires • the capacity to feel our emotions, so that we are aware when we are experiencing stress; • the ability to express our emotions effectively and thereby to assert our needs and to maintain the integrity of our emotional boundaries; • the facility to distinguish between psychological reactions that are pertinent to the ... See more

Do I live my life according to my own deepest truths, or in order to fulfill someone else’s expectations? How much of what I have believed and done is actually my own and how much has been in service to a self-image I originally created in the belief it was necessary to please my parents?

Gabor Maté