Human beings face lots of temptations from their surroundings, social media as well as what others do or say. It's, indeed, quite common nowadays to be lead into one temptation into another as we can see throughout our experiences.
Children do it all the time, unconsciously, but so are adults! We may not be conscious of it, but temptations are rather funny little sneaky obstacles of life!
The act of tempting or the state of being tempted especially to evil is quite common, always have been!
For instance, let's come back to our teenage years!
Back in school, your friends were are getting into the gym to play basketball, when one of them decides to sneak into the other girls' restrooms. They push you towards the restroom, convincing you that the girls were changing into their P.E. clothes. The temptation of going in there to see girls changing was indeed, tempting, so you go in and give in the temptation.
Another example...
Let's bring it back to even earlier years!
You are at home with your cousins who are about the same age as you. The three of you are about six years old, sneaky and all of you love candies. You are in your house, and you know where your mother hides the jar full of candies. You tell your cousins about it, and you all plan a sneak attack on the jar. You convinced your cousins to get the candies as well! The temptation is real when it comes to sweets! Evil enough you all three did not ask to get some, you just went and take yourselves.
The last scenario happens much later on in life...
You are a political person running for senator, and your people are going into amazing length to get some voters on your side. It wasn't your idea to go run for senator but your close family members. Dinner time, gathered around a wonderful meal, your family talks about your political views and the power you would be getting if you became a senator... You thought of it all night long in your bed, and you came to the conclusion of having some power and more money is rather tempting, so you start running a campaign. The temptation was clear and you became a senator, more power, more money...
These examples are extreme, childish and common...
Children are tempted by sweets as common sayings, "Don't talk to strangers" and " Don't trust a stranger even if he gives you candies". Easy to give in the temptations when you don't fully understand the consequences of giving into temptations.
Teenagers are an easier catch! Drugs and alcohol are now commonly used in their worlds! One kid offering, other give in temptations of feeling high or drunk... And when they are underage, the danger of getting caught is just pure adrenaline.
Adults comprehend the danger of giving in temptations, yet, they still give in like children give into temptations! As we grow up, we are interested in different things, more dangerous!
Temptations aren't simple, aren't healthy or safe! You could be tempted when it comes to food, but your health is beyond horrific so your doctor advised you to have a diet, strict diet.... But the smell of fast food come from your office when you work every day. The smell makes you want to eat, but you can't, yet, it's too much, too difficult to hold back so you go and buy some food. Next thing you know, you collapse, then wake up at the hospital! The temptation caused you to collapse on the floor of your office, and you almost died from a very bad health!
I could go on like this, giving examples, showing you how dangerous temptations can be, but it would take hours, months, years, many, many, many books!
Why do we give in? Because we are humans, and somehow temptations are obstacles, clever ones which are able to look amazing and yet dangerous! You never know what the consequence may be. Hospital bed, sick stomach, or even a coffin! Giving in temptations may lead to your death, then again, who knows...
Be careful with temptations, you never know what may come!
"Temptations are as thick as the leaves of the forest, and no one can be out of the reach of temptation unless he is dead." - Robert G. Ingersoll
~Bella
WARNING: I won't say real names because I don't think it's necessary... I don't want you to continue reading if you don't want to know about narcissism! It's only my experience, what I saw and had to endure. I don't need you to lecture me about not having a psychology degree, I don't think I need one to know exactly what I saw. I did on the other side took classes, and read many textbooks, learned from experiences as well as others. Please, don't think you are living under the same roof as a person who may seem like a narcissist, just because you act a bit like one doesn't make you one! It's like you can be distracted, compulsive and not have a disorder.
Narcissism is a personality disorder which may impact those surrounding the affected person as much as themselves just like anxiety may does. Quite difficult to notice at first, but as the disorder progresses, the symptoms and associates traits/ behaviors become more pronounced. A personality disorder is simply a pattern of thoughts or behaviors that are significantly different from those expected in a specific culture or society. Just because you may have a set of pattern doesn't mean you have a disorder!
I have lived under the same roof of a narcissistic person, and to be honest, it wasn't a piece of pie, a joyful moment. Narcissists do not do well under overwhelming emotions, or feelings, when someone tells them their issues, the words come through, but the lack of concern about their emotion isn't present. Out of these emotions, anger and fear come along, fright the narcissistic person, who will find a way to transfer or assign blame to someone or something if these emotions rush in. Somehow, if the person breaks something, they will try and blame the person who gave them the object, not taking responsibility for their action.
There are times when we have an angry reaction, throw plates onto the wall, or punching a chair, after all, if there is some type of stress in your life, it is understandable to be angry. Now, if it becomes a normal behavior, then you may consider it a sign of "something is wrong".
I personally had to deal with grandiosity! This is overlooked by many of us; it could seem like it's bragging, but it's more than this!
Grandiosity is being unrealistic! It's when an individual has a very inflated view of him or herself that they then portray to the outside world. They become louder than everyone else around only to show they are, the bigger person in the room. Tendencies of dressing well, showing off to the world in case someone important comes along... Feeling superior to others, even his wife or her husband becomes real. No matter what, they will say or do, nothing is good enough for the person who suffers from narcissism. The person uses his contacts for his own deal, nothing more, nothing less.
Humans take advantage of people in general, but somehow we also manage to give something back, in return, but narcissistic people won't do anything for anyone, yet, they will continue to take advantage, use everyone, freely. The word, "sorry" doesn't go through, it never comes up, the responsibility of their actions are denied, and apologies are forgotten! Never will they apologize.
When you live under the same roof as a person who shows a narcissist side, you begin to see everything wrong with the person, nothing goes right. It's almost as you feel insecure around them, unaware of what the person may do next. Since, most of them are unpredictable when it comes to their emotions, and how manipulative they can be if something doesn't go their way, this may result in you being afraid, frightened. Again, seeing and accepting the traits that they are showing can be complex, not always easy to recognize the behaviors. After all, narcissists are generous with their advice, time, and often even their money. If they do give you their time, advice, it's not for you, it's for themselves! It's to show how intelligent they are to you, show how good they can manage situations, time, money. They know you are going to listen to them, confident enough in their own skin to think they are unpredictable.
Don't think they can't love or form a bond, they can indeed do, just differently from us, they form bonds based on utility. They won't call you, check up on how you are doing, they only need to converse with you to get something... Narcissism isn't an easy disorder, it may be hard to recognize mostly because each trait that make up a narcissistic person could be given to everyone else. We all feel anger, fear, use people for our own good, like to be right, feel confident enough that we feel superior to others... But if this type of behavior is becoming "normal", you may consider it narcissism.
Living with a person who only think about themselves, only listen what they want, understand what they want, and making everyone feel horrible for mistake they did. Some questions may help you recognize if you are one or they are...
1. Do you consider yourself smarter than most, if not, all of the people around you? If so, do you also tend to change the path of conversations to the things you know, think and have?
2. DO you consider yourself above reproach? Many times, a narcissist will think - the rules don't apply to me. They are in place to keep other people in line, but I can break a rule here and there, because I understand how rules work and should be applied.
3. Do you get angry when someone offers your constructive criticism, or do you sometimes mistake other people's words as direct criticism of your personally?
4. Do you apologize? Many narcissists refuse to ever apologize, even when they are entirely at fault. For example, if you unknowingly hurt someone's feelings, do you offer words of apology?
5. Do you blame your emotions on others? A narcissist is often unable to cope with or accept his or her own emotions. Do you attribute your anger to the actions of others? Do you rely on others to supply your happiness, leaving them open to blame should something go wrong?
6. Do you feel that your life and well being is more important than anyone else's? A narcissist will have very little genuine interest in other people.
Now, if you are concerned about narcissism after considering your answers to these questions, then there is probably only a 50% chance that you, personally, are a narcissist. Don't get overwhelmed by it all though... If you are concerned that you are offending others with the behaviors mentioned above, you are taking the time to consider the impact of your actions and reactions to others.
"When a narcissist can no longer control you, they will instead try to control how others see you."
~Bella
Human beings face lots of temptations from their surroundings, social media as well as what others do or say. It's, indeed, quite common nowadays to be lead into one temptation into another as we can see throughout our experiences.
