Unless They’re a Psychopath…

I love reading spirituality and self-help books. I am always looking for ways I can better understand myself and others through a lens of empathy and connection. On a long drive, I was listening to Brené Brown’s latest book, Braving the Wilderness.  It’s a well-articulated book about when integrity encourages us to stand alone rather …

Am I a Narcissist?

Narcissists, among other things, are extremely selfish and require everyone else around them to reflect their own image. Like the myth of Narcissus, they are totally preoccupied with how they look to others. Narcissists will go to any length to destroy anyone who they think makes them look bad. They run entirely on "likes" and …

Protecting My Abusers

Victims do it. Abusers do it. Regular people do it without even realizing it. All too often in abusive situations, all the attention goes to protecting the abuser and blaming the victim. For most of my life, I absorbed the responsibility for my abuse. I did it because at a young, formative age, I was …

Letting Go of Toxic People

  Because I had been raised by abusers, I used to think that I could handle difficult people. I see the traps long before most people do, and I thought seeing them meant I could manage to avoid them. But I learned in the hardest way possible that I am not immune to abusive people …

When Pets are More Loving Than People

I'm a cat person, and for me, my devotion to cats is directly linked to the abuse I endured as a child. When I was growing up, my cats were the only consistent source of companionship. Growing up in an abusive environment that where I left left essentially to raise myself, my cats were always …

The Empath – Narcissist Connection

I feel the feelings of those around me. I always have. If someone scrapes their knee, a tingle will shoot up my leg. I get headaches around anxious people. I get knots in my stomach around angry people. I completely short circuit around liars. I know what people are feeling, whether they are in the …