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We can find acceptance as an adult. As a child you couldn't possibly understand the dynamics of relationships. Now, as adults we can. Acceptance does not come from others. It comes from inside. It is when we master acceptance of ourselves that we command it from others... and they usually obligingly comply.

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Hi Sky,

Yes, I agree that a lot of progress can be made in adulthood; my worry in my own case is that this progress is built on shaky foundations. I have sometimes called it 'the baby within'. My feeling is that we can learn to satisfy the adult but we will never be able to fully satisfy the baby.

However, maybe we can learn that we are no longer fundamentally the baby. I think it's possible, but hard not to slip back when another full-blown rejection crops up. The patterns run so d*** deep.

As mentioned in another thread, one strategy I have used is to be my own father figure; to behave towards myself in the way that I would have wanted a father to behave towards me. That was a big breakthrough.

Cheers, Myzen