Skip to main content

Waking up from Manipulation and doing something about it

Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully. When you dare to be vulnerable. Joyce Brothers

The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words. Philip K. Dick

It has been an interesting past 6 weeks where I've learnt first hand how it feels to wake up from manipulation. The past week has been the last chapter where  my eyes finally became wide opened on what has gone on in the past few months. I did not want to look at the truth because I wanted to please others, I wanted to feel connected to them but I always ended up feeling betrayed and my tasks at hand going through the windows because I was too busy trying to meet others half way and depleting all my energies in agenda that were not beneficial to me.
I am a nice person. This is who I am. But probably not the cleverest when it comes to recognising toxic individuals. I do remember a time when I left my own country in order to regain some sense of self but I have lost myself again by putting the needs of others first before my own.
Others may feel the same and probably came to the realisation that something odd is happening in their life, not understanding why they feel tired and restless, why they feel that they are not looked after by others and why they have the impression to be betrayed. People do not hurt consciously but they do it unconsciously by being demanding of others and hoping that others will take responsibility for them. Personally, I have taken too much responsibilities to the point where I burnt out. Please do not do the same

Below is a list of articles I've read to just identify the issue and learn to deal effectively with manipulation. I hope it will help:
1) https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-success/201510/14-signs-psychological-and-emotional-manipulation
2) http://theunboundedspirit.com/10-clever-ways-deal-toxic-people/
3) https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/lifetime-connections/201403/how-handle-manipulators
4) http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/dealing-with-manipulative-people.html
5) http://lifeesteem.org/wellness/wellness_manipulation.html


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Free Speech in the age of identity politics - Welcome back to the future of young days' bullying

The blur is real. When I was young, I was sent every holiday, in one of the toughest neighbourhood in Paris where most children of immigrants can be found, to experience first hand what it means to be a product of your environment. I was bullied not because of the colour I shared with them but what I represented in their mind - the product of a middle-class family. Yes, I was born neither white or black. I identify as mixed race. I was privileged to be raised in a household where your creativity and ingenuity was more prized than any other type of achievement (i.e. education, getting married or making money). The experience made me appreciate even more what was given to me. The experience also forced me to be very selective in what I was allowed to say depending on the people I was with. Social oppression in the age of free speech is just too real when you are young and uneducated. As for now, I am more educated and aware that free speech is one of the foundations of o...

Exploring Dreams:At the theatre, my favourite part is when the light goes off

At the theatre, my favourite part is when the light goes off. There and then, you know that: ''this is it, you cannot come out''. The configuration is as such that you are stuck with those sitting next to you on a ride. The actors speak to a part too often unknown to ourselves so we can get to see in between their lines the truth. Sometimes, they are so good at their jobs that they send us into a slumber, who knows what happens when we jump into another alternate reality as they continue their ritual. When the show finally ends, it is time to release the actors, ourselves and others from any further attachment to this world of dreams and come back down grounded to planet earth. Over the years, some plays impacted me more than others, Hamlet and King Lear by Shakespeare, Waiting for Godot by Becket, A Respectable Wedding by Brecht, La Baye by Philippe Adrien, Mefiez Vous de La Pierre a Barbe de Ahmed Madani...I was there the spectator, the actor, the confidant...Until I ...

Forearm yourself with the Politics of Time and Repair the broken work-centred economy - after reading ''the Refusal of Work'' by David Frayne.

This weekend, I read the Refusal of Work by David Frayne. In the book, he defines work and exposes critical accounts of different authors on how work is valued and regarded as a morally good behaviour to engage in so that the individual can be financially independent to buy more stuff at the detriments of its own health and wellbeing and the integrity of the natural environment. He, then, shares the experiences of a number of individuals who refused to work the typical 40 hours a week in favour of working either fewer hours or not at all. The Whys, the Hows and the ongoing tension the participants of the research experience between what is currently seen as an ideal behaviour and their own provide the reader with a mirror to reflect upon their own working or non-working situation. The work of AndrĂ© Gorz on The Politics of Time punctuates the writing in a beautiful manner and I am thankful to have been introduced to his thoughts. Finally, He invites us to get ready to o...