Dear Nick:

You wrote: “That said, I don’t think I’m 100% there yet”- and “facing the same thoughts again of ‘If these thoughts/incidents weren’t there, my life would be perfect'”-

You practiced what I suggested. Did it work for you sometimes? If it did, keep practicing. It is the expectation of perfection that will trip you, trap you. As long as you expect something to work 100% of the time, you are having an unrealistic expectation. When you expect perfection, you are inclined to give up on the practice when it is not successful.

Healing and managing distress is about continuing the practice of what works in spite of distress. It is about enduring lack of perfection and distress and adhering to the practice through the distress.

anita