David, a most engaging read, and a timely entry into my own moment in time. That self-examination stuff hurts so much, it made me ache just to read it. I’m ouching all over the place. Nonetheless, what you’ve detailed here fits my experience of self-examination better than anything I’ve run across in ages. And now, I have a question for you…

Recently, I went through one of these deep dives into self-examination myself. The more I’ve read about paradigm shifts, the better the term explains the changes in my perception of my own experience. While I’ve only had a couple of these in my lifetime, each one produced enormous change in my frame of mind. As a result, whenever people wonder if people can change, I say yes, a paradigm shift can and does change you.

Words and terminology may seem trite, but our ability to communicate depends on them. And now my question. Would paradigm shift describe your experience as well? It sure sounded like it to me, especially when you wrote, “Investing effort in identifying your own role in a disastrous relationship will pay dividends that simply bitching and casting blame about the disaster can never match.”

PS Sounds to me, like Grandpa St Vincent really got his stuff together.