We live in a sea of challenges to our sense of well-being: emotional systems linked to multilayered experiences mixed with impulses like need, sexuality, and hunger, all swimming with thoughts, desire, and fear. When we add another person to the mix, we are in deeper waters than ever. To make matters even more complicated, we develop moral and ethical positions, defenses, and complex relationships running parallel and entwined with each other. This intricate set of impulses, reactions, thoughts, and impressions forms our inner world. All of these processes influence our personality and mood. Our smart defenses can easily trick us into believing something that we believe to be true is not. The ability of our survival system to develop incredible rationales, to form complex defenses, and then to make us so totally believe in them is truly awesome—and deeply human.
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