Tips on Life in Small Bites

Narcissism  Outline:   Understanding Narcissism  Traits of Narcissism  Contributing Factors of Narcissism  How to Tackle Narcissism in Ourselves  How to Interact with a Narcissist  Understanding Narcissism  A narcissistic person’s emotional needs were not met as an infant or as a young child, leaving deep hurt and scars in us. We operate out of the sense that there’s not enough resources to go around; operating out of a sense of scarcity. We try to manage these feelings through our coping mechanisms.   These coping mechanisms can come across as selfish, self-centered, excessively entitled, grandiose, arrogant, insisting on special treatment, need for admiration, acting like we are most special, lacking empathy, using (exploiting) others for our own benefit, controlling, manipulating, and gaslighting.  While these coping mechanisms can repel others from us, they really are us doing the best we can to mitigate our deep hurts and sense...

Perfectionism   Outline: What Perfectionism Looks Like  What Perfectionism is About  Addressing Perfectionism  Practical Tools   What Perfectionism Looks Like  “Black-and-white” thinking: Things must be just right.  “Unless something is right, it is all wrong.”  An “All or nothing” attitude.  No mistakes or failures allowed/accepted.  No compromises.  Type “A” personality.  No flexibility.  Self-imposed expectations.  What Perfectionism is About  Need for control coming from a deep fear of not having control/power over one’s life.  Desire to feel competent and/or powerful.  Insecurity deep down.  Need to live up to expectations, for fear of being a failure or disappointment.   Fear of losing the affirmation/validation/acceptance for having done well in the past.  Fear that one is a failure/inadequate/not good enough.  Fighting against low self-worth/self-confidence.  A...