The best example of emotional regression is when many people go home for the holidays. Approaching our parents’ driveways we’re still feeling like adults. Once we cross the front door threshold, mom and dad start talking or interacting with us like they did thirty years before. Before you know it, we’re talking to them and sometimes even saying word for word what we said when we were twelve or thirteen.
Sharon says every time she goes home for a visit it isn’t long before the regressive behavior begins. Her mother, who is in her mid-seventies, starts commenting about her clothes or hair. Sharon says, “My mom gives me a warm hug then steps back and gently brushes my hair back and says the same thing, ‘Honey, why don’t you get your hair out of your face. You have such a pretty face. People want to see your beautiful face.’ I want to ignore here but instead I say, ‘Mom, it’s my hair and my face and I’ll wear it anyway I want to.’ I’m forty-four years old for God’s sake. When does it stop?”
Question: Where or when do you or someone you know go from feeling like a mature adult to feeling like a kid again?
In Lesson 24 I will present possible body cues that let us know we are regressing.
For more information go to johnleebooks.com and read The Anger Solution: The Proven Method for Attaining Calm and Developing Healthy, Long-Lasting Relationships, Facing the Fire: Experiencing and Expressing Anger Appropriately, The Missing Peace--all available on Amazon.com.
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