gaslighting | A Sagittarian Seeker

May 11, 2019-

I just finished watching a TED Talk on “Shame”. This came about four hours after someone, with whom I was working as a volunteer, mildly upbraided me for not working at a paying job. (This person is not working at a paying job, either.)

I am ever willing to stand outside and be vulnerable to criticism, knowing that a) I can’t live with myself, if I am not open and b) The critic is usually seeing, in me, those things he or she dislikes about self. That doesn’t mean the criticism never stings- and there are two people who I have banned from my life, in perpetuity, for barrages of that I consider unwarranted attacks. It does mean that those whom I trust, and who do not have hidden agendas, are to speak freely.

The presenter of the above-mentioned video spoke of shame as nearly always a prime impediment to a person being the true self. Shame is imposed from within, though not always sans influence or instigation from someone else. When I was younger, it was fairly easy, even for well-meaning people, to wreck my self-confidence and set in motion even false shame.

Since the days when my late wife was in my primary care, I have learned that there are unscrupulous people who will take to questioning even the most basic decisions a person can make- usually with a view towards financial benefit or other forms of power and control over the person they are questioning. I have learned that there are those who will attack someone who is defending victims of crimes, almost always as a means of gaslighting or obfuscation. Both of the people I mentioned above are gaslighters, and they came close to doing a good job of making me feel shamed.

There was just one difference, from the days of my youth: Time, and hard lessons, have taught me the difference between acknowledging wrongdoing and buying into the script of a narcissist or tyrant. So now, in an intervening period between jobs, I am not ashamed of not presently earning an income, outside of what I have already set aside for myself. That situation will change- on my terms, not those of the retired critic.

I am not afraid to be vulnerable, or to experience life’s aches and pains. The physical variety of these is relieved by what is called Soothing Blend (an oil-based ointment). The spiritual variety is relieved by prayer, meditation and positive action.

November 3, 2018, Prescott-

It’s no secret that there was a fair amount of darkness in my life, a few weeks ago. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but I had to go through having my ego tested, to see whether I deserved to have the goodness that has been increasing, over the past four months, to continue.

The dark consisted of a number of anomalous situations, involving limited communication means and quickly changing circumstances. This is how darkness works: Obfuscate, confuse and deflect. Gaslighting is the name of its game.

Darkness, though, is the absence of light. Once sunshine re-enters, the confusion gets dispersed, Hopefulness, never completely gone, reclaims its share of the heart. The commonalities, between seemingly disparate anomalous situations, appear-even to my mind, that can be so slow on the uptake.

So, now, my left knee is functioning just fine again. A serious impediment to my finishing this academic year has been removed. A person, who had abruptly left my circle of friends, sent me a conciliatory note and I was reassured, by a mutual friend, that a small but important matter, involving said soul, had indeed been resolved.

My schedule can still be maddening, at times, and I realize I am the one who ultimately drives that bus. Compromises and occasionally saying “No” are arising, as things get more intense, during this holiday season. I have also figured out how to more effectively use the time I do have available.

There are only two non-negotiables, in that respect. I will attend my mother-in-law’s interment, sometime in the next few months, and my son’s nuptials, in the early Spring. Everything else is a matter of timing and of urgency. There are good reasons for synchronicity in the Universe, and we do well to not be afraid to prioritize.

There is another aspect to Light, which I am glad to be seeing more often these days: The importance of marriage and the family. I will discuss that further, in the next post.