Hi TeaK,

Funny (or maybe not) that you mention the inner child.  It’s precisely there that my life went from something I have wonderful memories of, to something dark and afraid, starting at about 10 years old or so… which has perpetuated to the present.

I just got a copy of “Home Coming” by John Bradshaw, which is inner child work.  I intuited (which is how I do most of my serious ‘thinking’) that if childhood is where things went sideways, then that’s where I should at least *start* looking.

With my departed therapist, I’ve learned a few things about myself.  My issues with hair trigger anger/outrage are a learned defensive response to anything which feels threatening, anything which is diminishing of me.  When I was a little kid, I was powerless over pretty much everything; anger *feels* powerful, even if it isn’t.  Better to feel angry and powerful than to feel afraid and powerless.  Or so my childish unreason went.  Worked well enough to get me through that I never “saw” any reason to change it (never got into the habit of self examination or questioning… just hanging on to get through the day).

It’s been a minor revelation thus far.  I’m barely into it, and it feels like it was written specifically for me.  I hope it keeps on like this!

I’ll certainly look up what you suggested; I like to cast a wide net when searching for help, and the more sources the better.

Thanks for your quick reply, it’s appreciated… and nice to hear from you again, as well.