Self-Awareness 101 — You are not your thoughts

"I think, therefore I am!" Descartes' quote was great in its time, but I think it overshadows a larger reality. Most of us spend our time fully in our brains. We remind ourselves of what we need to do, the on-going "To Do" lists. We rehash conversations, worry about our futures, count calories, rewrite the …

Joy 101 — How to Open the Door to Your Emotions

Joy, or her gentler sister, happiness, can seem elusive. We have been told by our society we will be happy when we achieve a goal or gain an item we have coveted. I'm here to tell you joy can be found without any of that. Not only can it be found, without those items and experiences, …

Outsmarting the Narcissist

Once again, you find yourself struggling to remember what actually did happen. You are having THAT conversation again during which you are told your memory is bad, you are making things up and you must be losing your mind. Anyone who has been in a relationship with a narcissist has been told this. It matters …

Why Were You With a Narcissist? — Part 3

This post is continued from Part 1 and Part 2. We need to examine two things at the beginning of any relationship: Are they capable of love? What is reasonable to expect when someone says they love you? Here are some of the clues to the answers: 1. How they act is more important than …

Are you Avoiding your Feelings?

Do you find yourself shopping when you don't need anything and spending more money than you have? Do you eat when you are not hungry and past the point of being full? Do you need a drink in order to face your day, or perhaps several? People do many things to distract themselves from their …

Narcissism Navigated — Top 21 Narcissism Posts

Whether you are dating a narcissist, want to leave one, think you might have one in your life, want to know how to spot one or protect yourself from one, I have probably written a blog or a book about it. Here is a summary of the most informative posts that I have on this site. …

My Mother was a Narcissist

I was sitting in front of my computer at work. My personal email was open. I forget what I was about to do, when it happened. I had recently read a book, "When will I Be Enough" and in it I found a description of my mother--to a 'T', right down to some of her …

Stress Eating?

You are on your way to check out the new fish that are arriving today at the pet store and a car rear ends you at a stop sign. Then, you get there to find out that they haven't arrived yet and you see your lover petting kittens with someone that you don't know. You …

Why Were You With a Narcissist? — Part 3

This post is continued from Part 1 and Part 2. We need to examine two things at the beginning of any relationship: Are they capable of love? What is reasonable to expect when someone says they love you? Here are some of the clues to the answers: 1. How they act is more important than …

What are you Passionate About?

When was the last time that you were so eager to do something that you couldn't wait? How about stopping to just enjoy the moment, or "smell the roses"? I'm not talking about getting to the end of work so that you can relax, or worse looking forward to retirement, I'm talking about looking forward …