I was going to title this post, “My Aunt Was a Go-Go Dancer and That Screwed Me Up For a Long Time”, but I am pretty sure that sends the wrong message. I think it’s awesome that she was a go-go dancer. Let me backtrack here. Developmental psychologists say that we imprint behaviors at certain critical stages of our development, as well as in response to crisis situations. In other words, we latch on to behaviors that seem to work to ensure our survival, and if those stop working, we switch it up. Sometimes when the crisis comes in the form of negative response from our authority figures, we transfer the guilt we feel outwards as a way of avoiding feeling it ourselves. We project out onto the world the bad feelings we felt at the time. These crisis moments … Continue reading
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