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Five Passive Aggressive Types To Disinvite From Your Life
Proverbs says a lot about fools, but the uniting factor in all the different verses is the underlying assumption that you will deal with a lot of them. Some are easier to spot than others, usually because their mouth proclaims the news quite loudly. If this seems harsh, let me mitigate it by the admission that sometimes my own mouth has often robbed others of the illusion that I am among the wise. As a former passive aggressive (mostly) person, I have developed an eye for these types. Most often I meet them at work where passive-aggressive behavior is often honed to a fine art. After all, the group cc…
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The Unknown God: Our Misconception of Identity Part 2
A misconception of identity is as dangerous as a misconception of love. I used to think that very little mattered. By this, I mean that whenever things happened that were unpleasant or painful, I would dismiss it with the idea that it didn’t matter. I would just get over it. Of course, this was merely a minimization of how deeply events really affected me. As I moved out of denial, I began to realize that everything matters, though perhaps not with the same impact. And the one that matters most is how we understand ourselves in relation to God and our neighbor. Our ways of relating to others are one…
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Self-Awareness vs Narcissism: How to Tell the Difference
Self-awareness is to sensitivity as narcissism is to self-absorption. Many make the mistake of glossing over the term self-awareness as one of those jargon words like facilitate, monetize, or self-actualization. Christians, in particular, are often suspicious of any word that begins with self. We forget that the injunction to love others as we love ourselves presupposes necessary self-love. But self-awareness is the polar opposite of narcissism. Narcissism projects onto the world an image, while the true self, like the portrait hidden in Dorian Grey’s attic, grows less recognizable with time. The cry of the narcissist is “I have been cheated!” Narcissists seek to escape themselves. Those with even a modicum…