Dear Scott:

Anxiety never goes away, you wrote, and it is true, not by itself. If we are engaged in a process of healing though, it does diminish over time. Otherwise, as you know, we get breaks, vacations from it, until the next time it presents itself. The experience of it is biochemical: neurotransmitters, hormones, physiological processes like increased heart beat, constriction of blood vessels, changes in visual and auditory perceptions (getting a tunnel vision, sounds are experiences as louder than otherwise), and so on.

I agree that you were most likely,  not “born overly anxious, just that I had the experiences to force my brain to alter itself in a way to protect me from danger”, and that “As of right now, it is latched onto my relationship, and has been before”.

You asked: “In terms of evaluating my emotions… When is danger, danger?”- when there is an imminent and present danger, such as a car is driving fast toward you, a tree is falling in your direction (I live in a wooded area), a person is pointing a gun at you, a big predator is in front of you.

“When is happy, really happy?”- depending what you mean by happy: joy/ pleasure or peaceful contentment.

You wrote: “I had to change my emotions as a child to present them in a way my parents would accept”- what do you mean by it?

* will soon be awayfrom the computer

anita