My mother didn't acknowledge my feelings. Neither did my father. Feelings were a foreign object in the household I grew up in. We just didn't express emotions. We kept everything bottled up inside.

My wife tends to be unemotional too. She talks about people dying so matter of factly like when my son was dying of cancer. She would ask questions like, is he dying? How long does he have to live? We should start making plans. Don't get me wrong. My wife is very caring and loving in her own sort of way. But when it comes to expressing emotions and acknowledging the way she makes people feel, she considers all of that their problem and not hers.

Have you ever heard of a "guilt trip"? That's the way it feels. Like I've done something wrong and I have to beg for forgiveness. Whatever the situation might be, I feel like it's happening because I've done something wrong. When I get like this I stop everything I'm doing so I can examine my life and make adjustments to get back to a happy equilibrium.