‘Responsibility’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life, Page 3

Ultimately, people have power only over one thing: the execution of their free will.

Where does it go wrong? It seems to me that we know how to help individuals heal from trauma. It seems to me that we even know how to enable individuals to live more fulfilling lives. But this doesn’t transfer neatly and naturally into making the world a better place.

I know so many people who got into destructive relationships in the first place because even though they saw the warning signs of problem behaviors, they spent too much mental time and energy guessing about the person’s motives.

When someone engages in a behavior that’s a problem, the reason they do it is irrelevant. If we try too hard to “understand” the behavior, before long we’ll find ourselves excusing it and eventually enabling it.

“Tuning-out” someone who’s trying to make a point, teach a lesson, or call attention to a problem is a principal way that the disordered character resists internalizing the values, standards, and controls society wants him to adopt.