Hi. This is a great topic re: shyness and misunderstandings. I was an extrovert until my pre-school report card: "Lynn talks a lot, and in a loud voice." Evidently I had a lot to say, but that report card shut me up. Then fear of having too much to say, saying the wrong thing, in the wrong tone, and to the wrong people, in too loud a voice...turned to shyness. I think shy is a symptom of fear. I used to take things too personally, and I would want to retract things that I said in case the receiver took whatever I said the "wrong" way. I do think that this forum has helped me socially. There is so much support, insight, understanding here that I feel more relaxed about what I have to say. As for misunderstandings, I used to take the passive approach and either fester in the hurt and/or ask someone other than the person who offended me, such as, "What did so and so mean when she said such and such?" I'm learning to be more assertive about misunderstandings and talk to the person directly. That being said, I was with a grammar school, high school friend this past summer, and we actually revisited our misunderstandings of our childhood so that we could better understand each other now. We are both better able to approach each other in a loving and trusting way rather than from fear and shyness. My mother takes fear and shyness to another level, which is unhealthy. She will create or feign an illness to avoid social situations. I used to do that too, I learned it from her. Now I am much healthier and able to move through the fears of social situations and hurt feelings. Oprah's mothers' church friends said the same thing about Oprah: "My oh my that child sure talks a lot." Look where her voice got her! I wonder if she takes misunderstandings personally? Love and Light, Lynn