For just a little while, the lecturer became the case study, the observed rat in the maze in a freshman Psychology class at Trinity College Dublin in autumn during the mid 1980's. The subject was Behaviourism a branch of psychology much vaunted by dating sites and security services even today and the focus was upon how our individual behaviour can be controlled by others in a group. Prior to a subsequent lecture the class agreed to look at the lecturer only when he was on one side of the lectern and most particularly when he was at the outer edge of the stage on that side of the lectern. Yes he ended up spending most of his time in the unfamiliar place at the edge of the stage because when he was there the class looked at him.

The people pleaser and the imposter in us knows this response and our inner critic knows how we respond when we find ourselves in the thrall of some apparently irrational neediness that can be sensed internally in a capable human Me~Mind by a change on our breathing rhythm which announces the onset our familiar fight and flight responses, more times than not.