My counsellor passed this on to me yesterday. The source is unknown, sadly.

Once there was a very small person who had feelings. They had many feelings and got them every day. Their family liked them when they showed their feelings. So... they started wearing them on their sleeve. One day one of the parents said they did not like to see the small person's FEAR feeling any more, so the small person tried to pull it off. The parent said they would give the small person some TOUGH to cover their FEAR. It was very hard to cover the FEAR with TOUGH so the other parent and grandparents helped. It took many days. "Now you look wonderful," the parents said when it was done. "We've covered some of your feelings with TOUGH. You will grow into a good strong person."

When the small person was a little older they found a friend. The friend also wore their feelings on their sleeve. One day the friend said, "My parents want me to cover up my LONELY feelings and I will be different from now on." And they were! The small person decided to ccover their LONELY feelings too and they got ANGER from another adult. The small person put the big patches of ANGER on top of their LONELY. It was hard work trying to cover the LONELY feelings.

One day when the small person went to school some of their LONELY feelings started to show. SO... the teacher kept them later and gave them some GUILT to cover the LONELY feelings. Sometimes at night when they were alone the small person would look at their feelings. They would pull off the TOUGH and ANGER to look at their LONELY and FEAR. Then they would have to take a long time putting the TOUGH, ANGER and GUILT on again.

One night then noticed their LONELY and FEAR were growing and beginning to stick out around the patches. The small person had to go out to find some more ANGER to cover the LONELY and got all the TOUGH that their parents could spare to cover their FEAR.

This small person grew bigger and was very popular. Everyone said that this person could hide their feelings well. One day the person's parents said they had a PROUD feeling because the person had so much TOUGH. But the person could not find anywhere to put the PROUD feeling because the TOUGH was getting so big. The person had trouble finding any room on their sleeve for any other feelings. The TOUGH and the ANGER were all that showed.

Then one day they met another person and became friends. They thought that they were a lot alike because they both only had TOUGH and ANGRY feelings showing. But one day the friend told the person a secret. "I'm not really like you ... my TOUGH and ANGRY are really only patches to hide my FEAR and LONELY." The friend then pulled back the edge of their TOUGh and showed the person FEAR. Just for a second.

The person sat quiet and did not speak. Then carefully they pulled back a little edge of their TOUGH and showed their FEAR. The friend saw the LONELY underneath. Then the friend gently reached out and touched the person's FEAR and then the LONELY. The friend's touch was like magic. A feeling of ACCEPTANCE appeared on the person's sleeve and the TOUGH and ANGER were smaller. Then the person knew that whenever someone gave them ACCEPTANCE they would need less TOUGh and then there would be more room fto show their REAL feelings, whtever they were... HAPPY ... LONELY ... PROUD ... SAD ... LOVING ... STRONG ... GOOD ... WARM ... HURT ... FEAR ...



Thank you for letting me show my feelings and for sharing yours with me.

Caroline

[kimmydawn]

THANK YOU so much for sharing that. i'd like to share that as well?

be safe,

kd

[Gemstone]

Thanks a lot for sharing that Caroline.

[dragonskin]

I liked this a lot.

[shadowdancer]

me too! i liked this muchly.

anybody got some acceptance they wanna share?


shadow

[allthegirls6]

Carolne, this has blown my mind. How clever. It made me cry to read. Its very honest of you to share this.

All the girls

[constance]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Then the friend gently reached out and touched the person's FEAR and then the LONELY. The friend's touch was like magic. A feeling of ACCEPTANCE appeared on the person's sleeve and the TOUGH and ANGER were smaller. Then the person knew that whenever someone gave them ACCEPTANCE they would need less TOUGh and then there would be more room fto show their REAL feelings, whtever they were... HAPPY ... LONELY ... PROUD ... SAD ... LOVING ... STRONG ... GOOD ... WARM ... HURT ... FEAR ...

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

And then that "acceptance" was found to be completely fake or for totally selfish reasons. and then it was yanked away while eveyrone laughed and taunted the person.
so then the person never had feelings again.

[allthegirls6]

Constance, your post made me sad. Sometimes acceptance comes and stays but I know its not always the case.

I huge cuddle to you

(((((((((((((((((((constance))))))))))))))))))))00
All the girls

[tamzinrose]

I agree. I also want to say that Caroline's post was beautiful. But I kinda feel the same way as constance.

[dragonskin]

not a good thing. I try to show acceptance, and I try not to laugh at people and taunt them. I am only human though, and I know I have shortcomings, so does everyone else.

{{{{{{{dragonhugs}}}}}}}
special for you constance

-dragonskin

Hi Kimmy

Glad you liked this. I did too. It isn't mine to allow sharing or not; my counsellor passed it on to me but she had no idea whose original work it was. My feeling is that it deserves to be shared, as long as the acknowledgement to the unknown author is made. I'm glad it touched you; it did me too.
Caroline

You're welcome, Gem. I felt it was one of those things which deserved passing on.
Caroline

I'm glad you liked it, dragonskin. I did / do too. It takes a bit of unpacking but I feel there are lots of truths as well as hopes in there for me.
Caroline

Glad you liked it, shadow.

So many people here have shown me so much acceptance I wouldn't know how or where to begin. Thank you all. You are all special.

Caroline

Glad you liked it Audrey. I do too. There's certainly lots to think about in it, for me at least.
Caroline

(((((((Constance))))))))

I'm sorry you have had that experience. I have too. But I have also found true acceptance, both here and from a few special people irl. It takes real courage to reach out after you have been hurt this way. I've had bad experiences both online and irl, and I wouldn't want to belittle the hurt and fear you (or others) feel. I hope one day you will feel safe enough to let someone (maybe some here) see a little of your real feelings, and that you will then know the acceptance, without the rejection and pain.

((((((((Constance))))))))

Caroline

(((((((tamzin)))))))

I'm sorry that you, like Constance, have had bad experiences through showing your real feelings. It makes it hard to take that risk again, I know. In my experience it has taken both time and courage to take the risk of showing my real self to people after rejection. But I have found that the acceptance outweighs the pain - even if it sometimes feels like I have had more rejections than acceptance. I hope you can feel the acceptance here. And remember, you don't have to show all of the feelings at once - you can choose to peel back a corner at a time.

Caroline

[tamzinrose]

It's ok. I think you can get by without sharing your feelings.

Well yes, I guess that is true, but there are richer ways to live. But you need to do what is best for you right now.
(((((tamzin))))
Caroline

[constance]

I didn't mean to make a lovely story into a sad discussion. It's impossible for me to express what's inside because you never know who's around the corner waiting to pounce on you and destroy your life.
Sometimes it's the last person you'd ever expect but that doesn't mean it's impossible. unsinkable ships sink.

[Zorah]

(((((Caroline)))))
Thanks so much for this story
I have shared it with some friends from off the forum. It is such a good story that it explains a lot about most people.

[Zorah]

(((((Constance)))))
(((((Tamzinrose)))))
You won't sink
We'll all raft our boats together, that way you can cope with storms, even if they're big ones.

[tamzinrose]

I like storms. Just not metaphorical storms or storms used for an analogical purpose...

You're welcome, zorah. It's good to know it has helped some people. Sadly it seems to have upset others. I am really sorry about that - I never intended it to bring up bad things.
Caroline

[tamzinrose]

Well...I'm not upset. And I don't think you brought up any bad things. I think it was a beautiful thing to share.