Parenting Messages

If you believed your parents’ negative messages as a child,
you grew up with irrational thoughts that have influenced your
thought processes. Due to your irrational beliefs, your actions
toward someone in a present relationship may not be based on
reality. Do you find yourself overreacting to comments made by
a person in your relationship? Do you automatically interpret
someone’s critical feedback as an expression of hate or rejection?
How would you respond to someone you thought hated you or
was rejecting you?

In these instances, many people either avoid
the problem or become very aggressive. In either case, the person’s behavior resulting from his irrational beliefs from the past
would contribute to his hurtful acts in a present relationship. The
problem is that he will not always recognize his actions as hurtful. Many people who receive negative messages as children
enter relationships as adults sending similar messages.