One more thing to add to what the dragon wants: <font color=orange>acceptance</font color=orange>. I thought I should have added that after my last post, but you are saying it too. That's good about the dragon needing to be recognized. You can't just cover it up with a new coat of paint - it will keep coming back. How do you know if you are healing the dragon's pain or just covering it up?

How old were you when your dad married your stepmother?

The Socrates method sounds interesting. Why not give it a try? Who will ask questions and who will answer? Should that have its own thread?

Tomi, good ideas on tension management! Being able to express and recognize anger, let alone deal with it effectively, is really pretty good. I don't even do anger - I just stuff it. So you're ahead of me on that.

<font color=purple>"The real problem of mental life is not why some people become insane, but rather why most avoid insanity." -Erich Fromm</font color=purple>