Oh yeah - you go girl!!! I'm with ya on being told how I should feel. It's tough enough sometimes to just navigate the intracacies of how I do, already, feel... much entertain feeling something ELSE. I'm sorry if my advice/feeback sometimes comes off like that, too.
What you said about being influenced by others... is interesting. I mean in the sense that there is always this complex invisible environment of influences around us. Media, education, friends, geography and relationships and memory... weather even, influences me. (My sinus headache today due to an incoming weather front is wrecking havoc on my typing...) When we start being conscious of the influences... and paying attention to them... and choosing... it's almost as if this transforms an outside influence into an opinion or attribute that we "own"; it becomes assimilated into our concept of our selves. What we almost never notice... is that over time, these things change - and for all kinds of reasons. Growth, discovery, new experiences, self-reflection...
I don't know where I'm going with this. I think I'd like to lie down, now. Headache is even upsetting my stomach.
