“I Fall Too Hard In Love”

Do you find yourself getting hurt over and over in relationships? Discover why.

Do you find yourself falling hard for someone and then ending up feeling rejected and not good enough when it ends? This is the problem that Sabrina is having:

“Why do I fall so hard for men? How can I . . . → Read More: “I Fall Too Hard In Love”

“I Lose My Cool In Relationships.”

Do you find that as soon as you really like someone – whether as a friend or as a partner – you ‘lose your cool?’

Relationships offer us more opportunities for personal growth than just about anything else in life. But sometime the opportunities are very challenging!

For example, Larry asks:

“Whenever I . . . → Read More: “I Lose My Cool In Relationships.”

Can I Change A Narcissist?

Sometimes we are clueless regarding the subtle ways we are trying to control, while being very aware of a partner’s controlling behavior.


Tara asked me the following question:

“Dear Dr. Paul, How do you reach your spouse if they are narcissistic and shut down emotionally? He does not say anything when I explain inner bonding, intent or control – just stares. Even if I declare my love for him and my wish to be closer, he just nods his head! He is the son of narcissist father and borderline mother who both stepped out of his life when we married, He sees no reason to forgive anyone and he is not only defensive – he is offensive!!! Any conversation he must be in control. Help!!”

Tara, I’m going to make the assumption that you knew some of these things about him before marrying him, or that you got swept off your feet by the narcissistic charm and didn’t take the time you needed to really know him before marrying him. Continue reading Can I Change A Narcissist?

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“How Can I Get Him To Stop Hurting Me?”

Are you aware of the system you have created with your partner that may be causing you pain?


I have worked with couples for 44 years, and one thing I can tell you for sure: relationships are a system, and each partner has an equal part of the system. People come together at their common level of woundedness – their common level of self-abandonment. In many relationships, each partner is very aware of the other person’s end of the system, but completely unaware of their own end. They tend to trigger the other person’s wounded self with their own wounded self, but they often don’t recognize their own wounded self. Here is an example of this:

Allison asks:

“How do you suggest telling someone they’re doing something that hurts your feelings and to ask them to stop? My husband recently accused me of finding a way to blame my depressed feelings on him. He believes that I wake up in the morning feeling depressed and then try to find something to pin it on. My experience is that if he says something that bothers me and I don’t say something right when it happens or if he tells me I’m being defensive and I shut down, that I often wake up feeling resentful the next day, but when I tell him that I’m upset he gets defensive and tells me I have a problem.” Continue reading “How Can I Get Him To Stop Hurting Me?”

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Addiction to Getting Others To Change

Are you focusing on getting your partner to change to avoid a painful choice that you might need to make?

If you find yourself often focused on healing others or hoping you can get others to change, it is likely that you don’t think of this as an addiction. I define an addiction . . . → Read More: Addiction to Getting Others To Change

The Fear of Being Duped

Is being duped something you avoid at all costs, or are you willing to be duped in order to keep your heart open?


No one likes being duped. It feels awful to realize that someone has pulled the wool over our eyes – that we were so naïve we didn’t see that we were being duped, lied to or taken advantage of.

However, since this painful experience happens to most of us at one time or another, we each have a choice – will we make protecting ourselves from being duped our highest priority, or will we make being open and loving more important than whether or not we get duped?

I have found in my work with clients that the fear of being duped or taken advantage of is often in the way of being loving to themselves and others. They are so afraid of being taken advantage of that they close their heart, keeping their walls up to protect themselves from the possibility of being duped. Continue reading The Fear of Being Duped

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