quote:

I was, almost without being conscious of it , seriously cut off from my emotions because I had no skills or resources for dealing with them. But the problem is emotions don't go away when we ignore them so a lot of our time and energy (unconsciously) becomes bound up in avoiding them. This tends to lock us into very rigid behavior patterns because above all we must avoid actions that might cause the emotions we're trying to avoid. Which means trying new things or have a range of reactions to choose from gets shut down, and our options become limited. I lived in a small dark cell instead of being in the open air with space and light and choices.