Dear Karen,

My internal arguments got better by Step 3, and went away on Step 4.

Now on Step 7, if I start that "munching-munching-munching" internal arguing or a hamster spinning of thinking about things I can't resolve right away, I look at my food and see if anything is off.

It does get better, I promise.

And there's a book called "When I Say No I Feel Guilty" by Manuel J. Smith that helped me a lot with my grandmother, who was a bit, shall we say, difficult...It's about assertiveness training tactics. The tactics are interspersed with stories illustrating their use in real-life situations.

Best wishes,

Carey
on the central Oregon coast