If you read this intro before…skip to the blue below.
I had this idea in my head. Maybe put three pictures up in my office, each representing something important about what I do. Counseling reminder. A touchstone for the eye of sorts. Well, like I said, it was in my head and as I realized one of the three pictures I wasn’t going to be able to get, and the others were certainly copyrighted, the three sort of evolved as I looked for alternatives. So in looking for a different way to go, in my head, we went from three reminders to 96 reminders. It’s why my wife refers to what comes out of my noggin as ‘cumbersome’ on occasion.
So. I am mostly a counselor but I have also studied and practiced a bunch of other things including cuisine and photography. I always wanted to have an idea why some folks in every field are wildly successful compared to many of their contemporaries, so I always checked a bunch of them out. So, here come 96 people and quotes attributed to them, if there are any – 24 chefs, 24 photographers, 20 people associated with psychology directly, and then 28 none of the above people whose lives or words remind me what to strive towards as a counselor, a counseling business owner, and a general human being. The only problem was stopping. There have been a lot of people who for one reason or another inspire me, lots more names on the potential list but it had to at least pause somewhere, so here we are.
I don’t rightly know if writing these out and posting them will be of any use to anyone else but I’m reasonably sure codifying the whole thing will drive it home for me and hopefully offer some encouragement and centering for our folks. Hope you get something out of one or two of them too.
So, back to the head shrinkers. Aaron Beck is often credited with being one of the most influential psychotherapists of all time and is at least one of the big, if not the big, guy behind Cognitive and Cognitive Behavioral approaches to the puzzle of people. Our thoughts, at least to me, are fundamental to how we see ourselves and the world and are often screwy based on our lives and the interpretation of them. Makes way, way, way, way more sense than other folks focused on the unconscious or simply humanistic. While many play a part, what seems to make the most difference, results in the most change, comes back to Dr. Beck. Here are some of his words on the matter…
“If our thinking is bogged down by distorted symbolic meanings, illogical reasoning and erroneous interpretations, we become, in truth, blind and deaf.”
Aaron T. Beck
“The manners that apply specifically during courtship come to be replaced over the course of marriage by a different set of manners, embodying the residual pettiness, complaining, and faultfinding of childhood.”
Aaron T. Beck
“The stronger person is not the one making the most noise but the one who can quietly direct the conversation toward defining and solving problems.”
Aaron T. Beck
“Cognitive therapy seeks to alleviate psychological stresses by correcting faulty conceptions and self-signals. By correcting erroneous beliefs we can lower excessive reactions.”
Aaron T. Beck
“Stop it, and give yourself a chance.”
Aaron T. Beck
The takeaway is simple and straight forward for this one. Anyone sitting in front of me has had their own experiences and formed ideas about them, I need to listen for those and suss out which are working for them and those that ain’t. All while remembering I have my own nonsense going on which might be equally skewed or unhelpful or completely different from theirs.
I love the last quote…cause it’s true. You can alter your thoughts. And that can change the world. One person at a time. Super fun to watch!
Learn a little more about Aaron Beck here: