I'm illustrating the way in which you keep feeling ever more obliged to defend yourself against accusations and criticisms, actual and implied. This is partly due to someone else's attitude. You must be less sensitive to it. But it is partly, too, due to doubts deep down in yourself. These, you absolutely must ignore!


More? Or less? It has to be one or the other. It can't be exactly the same. You can't carry on just as you have been doing. The volume must go up or down. The speed must increase or slow. The intensity must rise or fall. So which is it to be? Remember, as you reach your answer, there will be opportunities later to make further adjustments. You're not setting an ultimate, irrevocable standard. You're just seeking a level at which you can feel comfortable for the time being. Such an accommodation is attainable!


How hard can it be to fly a space rocket? Or perform brain surgery? These are techniques that, once dutifully studied, are surely easy enough to implement. It's trickier to deal with idiosyncratic individuals who have inconsistent eccentricities! No amount of detailed explanation or complex logic can provide a reliable key to anticipating their moves or moods. Yet it just so happens that, intuitively, you know just what to do or say to relieve tension around a sensitive topic.