In elegant, expensive clothing, she is the consummate homemaker and bares her soul to anyone who will listen. She obsesses about her mangled love life.

In addition, research has shown that it isn’t good for children to be the top priority in a household. We have a nation filled with children who feel entitled, can’t really manage for themselves, and can’t endure uncomfortable emotions because everything is taken care of for them.

Self-pity connotes victimization and martyrdom, and even though you may indeed feel victimized, this attitude will prevent you from taking action and will inevitably drive people away.

Since a narcissist has no boundaries and could not care less about your boundaries, all interactions you have with them have the potential of becoming hideous.

I came to discover that underneath these tirades was a chasm of shame and excruciating anguish.

“Religion draws people who don’t want to go to hell. Spirituality draws people who have already been there.”

redirect each attack back to the narcissist’s underlying vulnerability.

Romantic love (which has been called temporary insanity) is a narcissistic state where we can become focused on our relationship and ourselves to the exclusion of everything and everyone.

At the same time, we must be discerning about the recipients of our gifts. Sadly, many of us keep bestowing gifts on those who either can’t receive or who keep taking and taking until we’re consumed.