Dear Lily:

I am fine, thank you. I hope you continue to enjoy being outdoors, going for walks and that you return to work soon. I understand you taking things personally, it is a common human tendency. I still have to evaluate situations and figure out what input to take personally and what to not take personally. It is difficult to not take things personally when we have a self critic that is too.. active and negative (ex., “they are talking about me”, “they don’t like me”).

“I would like to become a person that is not judgmental and open minded and doesn’t make assumptions. Those things are very important values to me”- you made significant progress in this regard to these values already, keep working at it, keep progressing, gently and patiently.

I understand your explanation regarding reducing your effort in the community rooms and it makes sense to me. Asking your therapist about what you perceived to be her angry facial expressions is a good idea. But like you suggested, when you ask her, she may not be aware of what facial expressions she made so long ago. Better ask during a session, right then and there.

“You are right, I am not seeing the people that I am talking to for who they are, when my fear  of them being angry at me takes over”- all of  us cannot see clearly when we are very fearful and very angry.

Good to read from you, enjoy the rest of your visit.

anita