Dear Mark,
I would like to thank you for your incredibly useful and insightful article. Whilst I do understand the importance of looking to past experiences, you have a very good point about focusing on working on the PRESENT in constructive ways.
I have done almost everything which you described, and somehow I already feel a greater sense of calm and inner strength. Just writing down the things on a piece of paper seems to have really done a lot of good. I have been to several therapists in the past, and have not found any who elicited the same response, as all they wanted to do was focus on the negative thoughts and experiences.
THANK YOU!
Being, as I am, a teenaged girl, it has been hard to convince both others and myself that whatever it is I am suffering from stems not from the depressingly applicable adolescant feeling of self importance and depravity in all of my relationships. I did not even stop for a moment to think that maybe - just maybe - the reason my relationships failed in all aspects of life (most specifically romantic) was not because of my inexperience with love but rather because of this conditioned response gained from so many failed relationships - specifically, for example, with my father. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to be directed to these words of wisdom and realise that perhaps I am not as permenantly damaged or as helpless as I once hoped. Thank you.
Sabrina on April 25 said:
Dear Mark,
I would like to thank you for your incredibly useful and insightful article. Whilst I do understand the importance of looking to past experiences, you have a very good point about focusing on working on the PRESENT in constructive ways.
I have done almost everything which you described, and somehow I already feel a greater sense of calm and inner strength. Just writing down the things on a piece of paper seems to have really done a lot of good. I have been to several therapists in the past, and have not found any who elicited the same response, as all they wanted to do was focus on the negative thoughts and experiences.
THANK YOU!
Aimee on June 30 said:
Being, as I am, a teenaged girl, it has been hard to convince both others and myself that whatever it is I am suffering from stems not from the depressingly applicable adolescant feeling of self importance and depravity in all of my relationships. I did not even stop for a moment to think that maybe - just maybe - the reason my relationships failed in all aspects of life (most specifically romantic) was not because of my inexperience with love but rather because of this conditioned response gained from so many failed relationships - specifically, for example, with my father. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to be directed to these words of wisdom and realise that perhaps I am not as permenantly damaged or as helpless as I once hoped. Thank you.