• narcissist
    narcissist - narcissistic abuse

    Five Traits of a Narcissist: Their Real Motives

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    While it is tempting to equate all kinds of abuse as pretty much the same, narcissistic abuse has a few characteristics outside the boundaries of emotional abuse.  Obviously narcissistic abusers are emotionally abusive. I am not disputing that. However, the goals of a narcissist are significantly different from those of a person who is emotionally abusive because of immaturity.  Knowing the difference is helpful.  Narcissistic abuse requires a different approach to recovery, though the healing path from any kind of abuse is difficult. Emotional abuse is a matter of degree. After all, we all are abusive at times. We lose…

  • Abandonment - Contempt - Toxic

    The Treachery of Contempt: Killing Each Other Softly

    - By 

    My first brush with contempt happened in sixth grade.  A new boy enrolled in the tiny Lutheran private school I attended.  I knew how hard it is to break into a new school, so I tried to be nice to him, to make him feel welcome. For whatever reason, he responded to my friendliness by calling me an unspeakable name.  I still remember the moment for a number of reasons.  Firstly, no one ever called me a name like that before this.  Secondly, the sexually explicit term he called me felt like an assault.  I felt the hurt all over…

  • Door to freedom from anxiety
    Anxiety - Fear - Imaginative Prayer

    Three Methods that Helped Me Conquer Anxiety

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    I became aware of my anxiety, ironically, when suddenly I had less to fear.  I found myself a single mother of four wonderful daughters and free of a narcissistic and cruel ex-husband.  I was so used to feeling numb that when I began to reconnect with my emotions, all the fear I lived with for years came to the surface. My approach to life, similar to my father’s, is to get a few books on a topic and begin to educate myself, but somehow specific methods for curing anxiety proved elusive. The one thing that kept popping up in my…