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"Those loveless thoughts are what Eastern religions call our "samskaras," or what psychologists might call our "shadow." They are the patterns we hold in our bodies, from past events that were either traumatic or pleasant, that we have built our lives around. Something happened in our past that made us feel unsafe, and we have created patterns of coping – avoiding things that make us uncomfortable or trying to arrange the world so we don't have to deal with our pain."

I've got something going on with me lately, where I have swings of mood from energetic, hopeful, a little chaotic to crash and burn, what's wrong with me, I'm exhausted stages. So what you've written here reminds me that there are old patterns lingering, triggers that I may not even notice but dig their claws in, and my ways of coping --- which include a lot of avoidance. Thank you for sharing this with me.

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