Carl R. Rogers
"Whether we are speaking of a flower or an oak tree, of an earthworm or a beautiful bird, of an ape or a person, we will do well, I believe, to recognize that life is an active process, not a passive one. Whether the stimulus arises from within or without, whether the environment is favorable or unfavorable, the behaviors of an organism can be counted on to be in the direction of maintaining, enhancing, and reproducing itself. This is the very nature of the process we call life. This tendency is operative at all times. Indeed, only the presence or absence of this total directional process enables us to tell whether a given organism is alive or dead. The actualizing tendency can, of course, be thwarted or warped, but it cannot be destroyed without destroying the organism. I remember that in my boyhood, the bin in which we stored our winter's supply of potatoes was in the basement, several feet below a small window. The conditions were unfavorable, but the potatoes would begin to sprout—pale white sprouts, so unlike the healthy green shoots they sent up when planted in the soil in the spring. But these sad, spindly sprouts would grow 2 or 3 feet in length as they reached toward the distant light of the window. The sprouts were, in their bizarre, futile growth, a sort of desperate expression of the directional tendency I have been describing. They would never become plants, never mature, never fulfill their real potential. But under the most adverse circumstances, they were striving to become. Life would not give up, even if it could not flourish. In dealing with clients whose lives have been terribly warped, in working with men and women on the back wards of state hospitals, I often think of those potato sprouts. So unfavorable have been the conditions in which these people have developed that their lives often seem abnormal, twisted, scarcely human. Yet, the directional tendency in them can be trusted. The clue to understanding their behavior is that they are striving, in the only ways that they perceive as available to them, to move toward growth, toward becoming. To healthy persons, the results may seem bizarre and futile, but they are life's desperate attempt to become itself. This potent constructive tendency is an underlying basis of the person-centered approach."
9 Quotes
"Whether we are speaking of a flower or an oak tree, of an earthworm or a beautiful bird, of an ape or a person, we will do well, I believe, to recognize that life is an active process, not a passive one. Whether the stimulus arises from within or without, whether the environment is favorable or unfavorable, the behaviors of an organism can be counted on to be in the direction of maintaining, enhancing, and reproducing itself. This is the very nature of the process we call life. This tendency is operative at all times. Indeed, only the presence or absence of this total directional process enables us to tell whether a given organism is alive or dead. The actualizing tendency can, of course, be thwarted or warped, but it cannot be destroyed without destroying the organism. I remember that in my boyhood, the bin in which we stored our winter's supply of potatoes was in the basement, several feet below a small window. The conditions were unfavorable, but the potatoes would begin to sprout—pale white sprouts, so unlike the healthy green shoots they sent up when planted in the soil in the spring. But these sad, spindly sprouts would grow 2 or 3 feet in length as they reached toward the distant light of the window. The sprouts were, in their bizarre, futile growth, a sort of desperate expression of the directional tendency I have been describing. They would never become plants, never mature, never fulfill their real potential. But under the most adverse circumstances, they were striving to become. Life would not give up, even if it could not flourish. In dealing with clients whose lives have been terribly warped, in working with men and women on the back wards of state hospitals, I often think of those potato sprouts. So unfavorable have been the conditions in which these people have developed that their lives often seem abnormal, twisted, scarcely human. Yet, the directional tendency in them can be trusted. The clue to understanding their behavior is that they are striving, in the only ways that they perceive as available to them, to move toward growth, toward becoming. To healthy persons, the results may seem bizarre and futile, but they are life's desperate attempt to become itself. This potent constructive tendency is an underlying basis of the person-centered approach."
"سواء كنا نتحدث عن زهرة أو شجرة بلوط، عن دودة أرض أو طائر جميل، عن قرد أو إنسان، فإني أعتقد أننا سنحسن صنعًا إذا أدركنا أن الحياة عملية فاعلة لا سلبية. فبغض النظر عما إذا كان المحفز ينبع من الداخل أو الخارج، وعما إذا كانت البيئة مواتية أو غير مواتية، فإن سلوكيات الكائن الحي يمكن الاعتماد عليها لتتجه نحو الحفاظ على ذاتها، وتنميتها، وتكاثرها. هذا هو جوهر العملية التي نسميها الحياة. هذه النزعة تعمل في جميع الأوقات. وفي الواقع، إن وجود أو غياب هذه العملية التوجيهية الشاملة هو وحده الذي يمكننا من معرفة ما إذا كان كائن حي معين حيًا أم ميتًا. يمكن للنزعة المحققة لذاتها، بالطبع، أن تُحبط أو تُشوه، لكن لا يمكن تدميرها دون تدمير الكائن الحي نفسه.
أتذكر في صباي أن الصندوق الذي كنا نخزن فيه مؤونة البطاطس الشتوية كان في القبو، على بعد أقدام قليلة تحت نافذة صغيرة. كانت الظروف غير مواتية، لكن البطاطس كانت تبدأ في الإنبات – براعم بيضاء شاحبة، تختلف تمامًا عن البراعم الخضراء الصحية التي كانت تنبتها عند زراعتها في التربة في الربيع. لكن هذه البراعم الحزينة الهزيلة كانت تنمو بطول قدمين أو ثلاث أقدام وهي تتوق إلى نور النافذة البعيد. كانت هذه البراعم، في نموها الغريب العقيم، نوعًا من التعبير اليائس عن النزعة التوجيهية التي كنت أصفها. لم تكن لتصبح نباتات أبدًا، ولن تنضج أبدًا، ولن تحقق إمكاناتها الحقيقية أبدًا. لكنها، تحت أقسى الظروف، كانت تسعى جاهدة لتكون. الحياة لا تستسلم، حتى لو لم تتمكن من الازدهار.
عند التعامل مع العملاء الذين تشوهت حياتهم بشكل فظيع، وعند العمل مع رجال ونساء في الأجنحة الخلفية للمستشفيات الحكومية، غالبًا ما أفكر في براعم البطاطس تلك. لقد كانت الظروف التي تطور فيها هؤلاء الأشخاص غير مواتية لدرجة أن حياتهم غالبًا ما تبدو شاذة، ملتوية، بالكاد بشرية. ومع ذلك، فإن النزعة التوجيهية فيهم جديرة بالثقة. مفتاح فهم سلوكهم هو أنهم يسعون، بالسبل الوحيدة التي يرونها متاحة لهم، نحو النمو، نحو التحقق. قد تبدو النتائج للأشخاص الأصحاء غريبة وعقيمة، لكنها محاولة الحياة اليائسة لتكون ذاتها. هذه النزعة البناءة القوية هي أساس جوهري للمنهج المتمركز حول الشخص."
Carl R. Rogers
"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?"
"في بواكير مسيرتي المهنية، كان سؤالي: كيف لي أن أعالج هذا الشخص، أو أشفيه، أو أغيره؟ أما اليوم، فقد أصبحت أصوغ السؤال على هذا النحو: كيف يمكنني أن أقدم علاقة يستثمرها هذا الشخص في نموه الذاتي؟"
Carl R. Rogers
"When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard. I have deeply appreciated the times that I have experienced this sensitive, empathic, concentrated listening."
Carl R. Rogers
"The third facilitative aspect of the relationship is empathic understanding. This means that the therapist senses accurately the feelings and personal meanings that the client is experiencing and communicates this understanding to the client. When functioning best, the therapist is so much inside the private world of the other that he or she can clarify not only the meanings of which the client is aware but even those just below the level of awareness. This kind of sensitive, active listening is exceedingly rare in our lives. We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy. Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change that I know."
Carl R. Rogers
"When a person realizes he has been deeply heard, his eyes moisten. I think in some real sense he is weeping for joy. It is as though he were saying, "Thank God, somebody heard me. Someone knows what it's like to be me"
Carl R. Rogers
"Whether we are speaking of a flower or an oak tree, of an earthworm or a beautiful bird, of an ape or a person, we will do well, I believe, to recognize that life is an active process, not a passive one. Whether the stimulus arises from within or without, whether the environment is favorable or unfavorable, the behaviors of an organism can be counted on to be in the direction of maintaining, enhancing, and reproducing itself. This is the very nature of the process we call life. This tendency is operative at all times. Indeed, only the presence or absence of this total directional process enables us to tell whether a given organism is alive or dead. The actualizing tendency can, of course, be thwarted or warped, but it cannot be destroyed without destroying the organism. I remember that in my boyhood, the bin in which we stored our winter's supply of potatoes was in the basement, several feet below a small window. The conditions were unfavorable, but the potatoes would begin to sprout—pale white sprouts, so unlike the healthy green shoots they sent up when planted in the soil in the spring. But these sad, spindly sprouts would grow 2 or 3 feet in length as they reached toward the distant light of the window. The sprouts were, in their bizarre, futile growth, a sort of desperate expression of the directional tendency I have been describing. They would never become plants, never mature, never fulfill their real potential. But under the most adverse circumstances, they were striving to become. Life would not give up, even if it could not flourish. In dealing with clients whose lives have been terribly warped, in working with men and women on the back wards of state hospitals, I often think of those potato sprouts. So unfavorable have been the conditions in which these people have developed that their lives often seem abnormal, twisted, scarcely human. Yet, the directional tendency in them can be trusted. The clue to understanding their behavior is that they are striving, in the only ways that they perceive as available to them, to move toward growth, toward becoming. To healthy persons, the results may seem bizarre and futile, but they are life's desperate attempt to become itself. This potent constructive tendency is an underlying basis of the person-centered approach."
Carl R. Rogers
"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 R. Rogers
"There is no doubt that I am selective in my listening, hence "directive" if people wish to accuse me of this. I am centered in the group member who is speaking, and am unquestionably much less interested in the details of his quarrel with his wife, or of his difficulties on the job, or his disagreement with what has just been said, than in the meaning these experience have for him now and the feeling they arouse in him. It is to these meanings and feelings that I try to respond."
Carl R. Rogers
"The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change."
Carl R. Rogers
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