Way back in 1992, I stumbled across a book called Coming to Life by Polly Berrien Berends. These words caught my eye, and I was shocked.
“At the age of forty, one man was astonished to realize that he still looked at everyone as his parent–even the supermarket cashier girl. He didn’t just want her to make change and pack his bags. Instead, he realized, he was doing everything he could to get her special attention, approval, affection, admiration, and encouragement. Even before his turn came in line, he was hoping she would notice how handsome he was in his new shirt, how pretty his wife and child were. My, she should think, hasn’t he done well for himself? He caught himself winking, gesturing, posturing, shrugging, and fawning at this seventeen-year old… He was appalled. How could he be so childish? He figured he must be nuts.”
At the time, I thought, “Man, that’s pretty damn close to some of the crap that goes on in my head every day.” And I was relieved to find out that the author considered this goofball thinking to be pretty common. Slowly it began to dawn on me that there was a constant stream of these little thoughts running through my head. (Continued….)
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