Dear Anita,

I am not good at the real thing. I fail at the real thing. And to be quite honest I’m not really concerned about with who, except my husband. So many of our interactions during the day can be classified a small top, whether it is with colleagues or patients. But the one and only important time of my day where I actually need to listen it’s with my husband, I noticed that I must harness all of my energy to do so. But why not?. I haven’t told you this, but over the weekend my husband has opened up to me a lot about his own struggles. He is articulating them in a new way, a lot of which is because of our interaction, I have told him so much about our interaction and the awareness of our mental chatter, and what it is telling us. I will explain a little bit more about this throughout the day, but what is most important right now is for me to explain to you that now more than ever do I need to harness that listening ability, the ability to have him repeat himself if my mother voice is taking over, if my own mental chatter is taking over telling me stop listening and do something productive. It is the fear that I am escaping from, like you said anxiety is the human condition. But, I know that I can compartmentalize my energy and focus at least a few times a day. For that REAL interaction. The real deal. I will focus on those tidbits for now.