Disrespect Is The Weapon Of The Weak

It Was Not The Beautiful Or Pleasant Feelings That Gave Me New Insight, But The Ones Against Which I Fought Most Strongly: Feelings That Made Me Experience Myself As Shabby, Petty, Mean, Helpless, Humiliated, Demanding, Resentful Or Confused, And Above All, Sad And Lonely. It Was Precisely Through These Experiences, Which I Had Shunned For So Long, That I Became Certain That I Now Understood Something About My Life, Stemming From The Core Of My Being, Something That I Could Not Have Learned From Any Book.

Discipline Is ... Life-inhibiting, Is At The Very Least Curtailment Of Vital Activity Insofar As The Latter Cannot Develop As It Wishes But Is Confined Within Specific Limits And Subjected To Specific Rules.

Child Abuse Is Still Sanctioned — Indeed, Held In High Regard — In Our Society As Long As It Is Defined As Child-rearing. It Is A Tragic Fact That Parents Beat Their Children In Order To Escape The Emotions From How They Were Treated By Their Own Parents.

The Attempt To Be An Ideal Parent, That Is, To Behave Correctly Toward The Child, To Raise Her Correctly, Not To Give To Little Ortoo Much, Is In Essence An Attempt To Be The Ideal Child--well Behaved And Dutiful--of One's Own Parents. But As A Result Of These Efforts The Needs Of The Child Go Unnoticed. I Cannot Listen To My Child With Empathy If I Am Inwardly Preoccupied With Being A Good Mother; I Cannot Be Open To What She Is Telling Me.

Emotional Access To The Truth Is The Indispensable Precondition Of Healing.