Sandra

“That was how I'd always imagined the surface of my heart -- smooth, slick, unattached. Nothing to grab on to. Unscored. No one could attach to me once the inevitable heat of life bore down.”
― Christie Tate, Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life

“If someone frankly asks for reassurance and gets it, that is an operation. If someone asks for reassurance, and after it is given turns it in some way to the disadvantage of the giver, that is a game.”
― Eric Berne, Games People Play

“What sorts of things do you google when your favorite person in the world is determined to leave it?”
― Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows

“As much as we want to improve our relationships with our fathers or mothers, if your father, for example, hasn’t changed, he’ll probably hurt you again. His response is saying that he can’t handle more intimacy with you. Repeated efforts on your part won’t change this. No matter how much we love someone, they have the choice of holding to their limits. I have a certain relative I love very much. I’ve poured my heart out telling of my wish that we might be closer. I’ve been hurt a hundred times. So I finally got it. No matter how much I want to be closer to my relative, I can’t make him take his barrier away. He has a right to keep it. But I can protect myself from being hurt again. I can stop banging my head on his barrier.”
― Anne Katherine, Boundaries Where You End And I Begin: How To Recognize And Set Healthy Boundaries