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Old Nov 14, 2009, 08:29 AM
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ECHOES ECHOES is offline
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Member Since: Aug 2007
Location: West of Tampa Bay, East of the Gulf of Mexico
Posts: 14,354
Quote:
I'm scared I have done someting wrong and they will not speak to me or aknowledge me
Does this happen? If so, what happens after?
If you noticed someone not speaking to you or acknowledging you... could you speak directly to them "It seems as if you are avoiding me and I'm wondering if you are angry with me?"

You see, I suspect that others do like you and that for one, the worry creates a willingness in you to imagine someone is angry with you or not liking you when that may not be happening at all.. and two, realizing that if someone avoids us or is angry with us--that is about them, that is about their feelings/perceptions/response to experience and by directly bringing this from inaction (avoidance) to action (words) you open up the opportunity to change; the opportunity to clarify, clear up misconceptions, for each party to have say what they are experiencing (as all experiences are individual).

Does this make sense?

I am often very amazed that what I thought was going on, was not going on at all..except in my own mind.
Learning to 'test' my perceptions with reality has given me another way of responding to what I perceive to be happening. It was not easy at first but my therapist, in the course of talking about 'anything and everything' has helped me and helps me see when I am responding without testing. She also helped me another way, by accepting my declarations of another person being mad at me (without my checking it out) and following that thought to 'what then': Okay, so this person is mad at me.. what does that mean to me, what are my worries about that, what do I think will happen next or as a result of that, and is my worry about the other being angry with me a kind of self-protection....

So much to explore
Thanks for this!
opheliasorrow, shezbut