Gestalt prayer

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The "Gestalt prayer" is a 56-word statement by psychotherapist Fritz Perls that is taken as a classic expression of Gestalt therapy as way of life model of which Dr. Perls was a proponent.

The key idea of the statement is the focus on living in response to one's own needs, without projecting onto or taking introjects from others. It also expresses the idea that, it is by fulfilling their own needs, that people can help others do the same and create space for genuine contact, i.e. when they "find each other, it's beautiful."

[edit] Text of "prayer"

I do my thing and you do your thing.

I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,

And you are not in this world to live up to mine.

You are you, and I am I,

And if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful.

If not, it can't be helped.

(Fritz Perls, 1969)