Rachel Naomi Remen

Most of us lead far more meaningful lives than we know. Often finding meaning is not about doing things differently; it is…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

I think ideas only lead to change for intellectual people; and not even them. What really leads to change is experience. Life…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

If you carry someone else's fears and live by someone else's values, you may find that you have lived their lives.

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Sooner or later we will come to the edge of all that we can control and find life, waiting there for us.

— Rachel Naomi Remen

When people are blessed they discover that their lives matter, that there is something in them worthy of blessing.

— Rachel Naomi Remen

What we do to survive is often different from what we may need to do in order to live.

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Of course love is never earned. It is a grace we give one another. Anything we need to earn is only approval.

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Being alive is being aware, being able to be touched and moved and changed, being able to respond rather than to react,…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

I spent the first forty years of my life making major interventions into other people's lives, and I have an idea of…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Every great loss demands that we choose life again. We need to grieve in order to do this. The pain we have…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

In order to live fully we may need to look deeply at our own suffering and at the suffering of others. In…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

When we are seen by the heart we are seen for who we are. We are valued in our uniqueness by those…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

I have no idea about what death is, but because I have been in association with it so intimately, I have a…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Perhaps losing integrity with yourself is the greatest stress of all, far more hurtful to us than competition, time pressure, or lack…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Life is as complex as we are. Sometimes our vulnerability is our strength, our fear develops our courage, and our woundedness is…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

The wisdom in the story of the most educated and powerful person is often not greater than the wisdom in the story…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Before every session, I take a moment to remember my humanity. There is no experience that this man has that I cannot…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

“Human being" is more a verb than a noun. Each of us is unfinished, a work in progress. Perhaps it would be…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

To seek approval is to have no resting place, no sanctuary. Like all judgement, approval encourages a constant striving. It makes us…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

I have even learned to respond to someone crying by just listening. In the old days I used to reach for the…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

We usually look outside ourselves for heroes and teachers. It has not occurred to most people that they may already be the…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

“Reclaiming ourselves usually means coming to recognize and accept that we have in us both sides of everything. We are capable of…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

“There is a Sufi story about a man who is so good that the angels ask God to give him the gift…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Everyone alive has suffered. It is the wisdom gained from our wounds and from our own experiences of suffering that makes us…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

From a good teacher you may learn the secret of listening. You will never learn the secret of life. You will have…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

It has been my experience that presence is a more powerful catalyst for change than analysis.

— Rachel Naomi Remen

An unanswered question is a fine traveling companion. It sharpens your eye for the road.

— Rachel Naomi Remen

A loving silence often has more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.

— Rachel Naomi Remen

The worst thing that happens in life is not death. The worst thing would be to miss it. . . . I…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

When you listen generously to people they can hear the truth in themselves, often for the first time.

— Rachel Naomi Remen

People have the natural capacity to affirm and embrace life in the most difficult of circumstances.

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Perhaps wisdom is simply a matter of waiting, and healing a question of time. And anything good you've ever been given is…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

“: Whether we are aware of it or not, we will refine the quality of our humanity throughout the course of our…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

“As a physician, I was trained to deal with uncertainty as aggressively as I dealt with disease itself. The unknown was the…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

One of my patients told me that when she tried to tell her story people often interrupted her to tell her that…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

“While an impulse toward wholeness is natural and exists in everyone, each of us heals in our own way. Some people heal…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Listening is the oldest and perhaps the most powerful tool of healing. It is often through the quality of our listening and…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

There are few master teachers in life. ... But there are many who can listen to life so well that they can…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

“We are, in a certain way, defined as much by our potential as by its expression. There is a great difference between…

— Rachel Naomi Remen

Wisdom comes most easily to those who have the courage to embrace life without judgment and are willing to not know, sometimes…

— Rachel Naomi Remen