As a consequence of therapy, you come to be less frustrated by stress, able to recover from stressful experiences more quickly. You become less defensive and more accepting of others and yourself, able to adjust more easily to unexpected demands in living. You have a decreased tendency to hold rigid expectations of the world, so you feel less disappointment and frustration. _Congruence_ You come to be more unified in the present moment, aware of your feelings, and less disposed to ignore, deny, or distort your perceptions out of defensive needs. Congruence means a close match between what you feel and how you think and act. Congruent people are well integrated, no longer in need of "masks." When we admire a person's sense of "integrity," we often feel that the person not only behaves in ways that show self-respect, but that he or she is self-accepting, is genuine, and appears to be comparatively free of inner conflict. Such individuals are, in short, able to be themselves. People who no longer are engaged in a battle against themselves and against others will tend to show congruence. {36} _Self-Esteem_ People with high self-esteem can allow themselves to feel modest and to behave with modesty. High self-esteem does not imply pride or arrogance. Self-esteem and self-acceptance (and hence congruence) are interrelated. Individuals with strong self-esteem no longer need to prove themselves. They value the kind of people they are and are not inclined to be self-undermining through perfectionistic self-criticism. _Openness and Love_ Ideally, if you undergo therapy, you become less defensive and less uptight about yourself; you will therefore have less need for self-absorption, so you will be able to develop an increased capacity to feel warmth for others. You may become more giving, and less hooked on the need to recover for what you do give, tit for tat. There are fewer "shoulds" to stand in your way, to use to blame yourself, or to use to criticize others. You can let go of these requirements and accept others for what they are, for what they can do, and for what they may feel. You feel less disappointment and resentment about your relationships and more of a sense of ease and peace. _Freedom_ Since you are less hooked by the expectations and values of others, and you have reduced the list of requirements that others must fulfill in order to be acceptable, you gain a great measure of personal freedom. The habitual process of sizing others up and comparing them with yourself, which many of us expend so much time and energy doing, is no longer needed. You can more freely set your life goals. You will probably feel more real, meaningful satisfaction with your life, since you are no longer imprisoned by uptight standards of judgment. You are able to be much more relaxed because you are able to feel more accepting toward others and toward yourself. _Displacing the Negative with the Positive_