On Purpose with Jay Shetty - 8 Types of Toxic People and 5 Steps to Setting Stronger Boundaries

Episode Date: May 7, 2021

Would you believe me if I said toxic people don’t exist? You’ve probably got someone in mind right now... But it’s true, people aren’t born toxic - it’s their negative habits, conditioning, ...and behaviors that installed these toxic characteristics. This doesn’t mean they’re bad people, it just means you need better boundaries. In this episode of On Purpose, Jay Shetty identifies the 8 types of toxic people and the 5 steps to setting boundaries in all of your relationships. Achieve success in every area of your life with Jay Shetty’s Genius Community. Join over 10,000 members taking their holistic well-being to the next level today, at https://shetty.cc/OnPurposeGeniusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Munga Shatekler and it turns out astrology is way more widespread than any of us want to believe. You can find it in major league baseball, international banks, kpop groups, even the White House. But just when I thought I had a handle on this subject, something completely unbelievable happened to me and my whole view on astrology changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, give me a few minutes because I think your ideas are about to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
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Starting point is 00:01:03 I'm Danny Shapiro, host of Family Secrets. It's hard to believe we're entering our eighth season, and yet we're constantly discovering new secrets. The variety of them continues to be astonishing. I can't wait to share 10 incredible stories with you, stories of tenacity, resilience, and the profoundly necessary excavation of long-held family secrets.
Starting point is 00:01:26 Listen to season eight of Family Secrets on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. When we don't set down boundaries that are clear, people often violate them unknowingly. If you say up front, I'm happy to help with this one project, but because of work and wanting to spend free time with my kids, that's as much as I can do in a year. I'll turn down any other request. If there's a specific project you want my help on more than others, please ask me about
Starting point is 00:01:52 that one. Was that unkind? No. Was that aggressive? No. Was it assertive? Yes. Hey everyone, welcome back to on purpose, the number one health podcast in the world.
Starting point is 00:02:10 Thank you so much for being back here. And if this recording is not as beautiful as all of our recordings, it's only because I'm traveling and I'm having to record this through my computer. So please bear with me. Today I'm going to be talking about the nine types of toxic people and five tools to create healthier boundaries. Now, I just want to start off by saying that there is no such thing as a toxic person. There are toxic habits, there are toxic conditionings, there is toxic karma, there's toxic behavior, but a person is not inherently toxic.
Starting point is 00:02:46 No one is toxic in their soul. No one is toxic in their being. But we take on toxic behaviors, toxic conditioning, toxic habits in our life. And when we are going through our own transition, when we're going through our own purification, it is harder to be around those that are still practicing toxic habits. So that's what I mean by toxic people when we're referring to that. Now, I want to give you example. When I first got involved in spirituality after I met the monk and I realized that I wanted to live a certain way.
Starting point is 00:03:22 I wanted to live a life of service. I wanted to stop certain habits as well in my life. And I started to realize that I couldn't be around people who enjoyed those habits deeply. So if someone was completely immersed in some of those habits that were no longer habits that I wanted to have, that's where I had to set a boundary.
Starting point is 00:03:44 And it was tough because it wasn't that I didn't want to be around those people. It's that I didn't want to be around them when they were practicing that habit. This is a really key part of detachment in setting boundaries. Is people think setting a boundaries, cutting someone out of your life,
Starting point is 00:04:00 but setting a boundary doesn't mean you have to cut someone out of your life. It just means you cut out that part of their life that you don't want to be a part of. Right? Think about that. Setting a boundary doesn't mean that you cut someone out of your life. It means you cut out the part of their life that affects you. Right? It's really, really important to remember that. Now, here's a shocking statistic.
Starting point is 00:04:32 According to a 2019 survey from One Pole and Evite of 2000 people, the average American hasn't made one new real friend in the last five years. We keep talking about the pandemic and how it's affected our friendships and our relationships, but even before that, five years. So many of you tell me you're feeling lonely or you're feeling like you're not part of a community where you feel you belong or who say you struggle developing relationships. And this is true as we get older, it becomes more and more difficult to build meaningful, long-lasting relationships. And often our long-lasting relationships are no longer meaningful. They're not moving in the same direction as our life is today.
Starting point is 00:05:10 How many of you have had that experience? Isn't it fascinating that sometimes our long-lasting relationships aren't meaningful but we struggle as we get older to create those meaningful relationships? Now, most of those in the studies said that two factors characterize a good friend, someone with whom you can have trust and honesty. How many of you can agree with that? What would be your two characteristics right now
Starting point is 00:05:34 for a good friend? I'm pretty sure trust and honesty would be high up on the list. The average person in the survey had 16 friends of different types. Three they would call friends for life. Five people they like enough to spend time together one-on-one and about eight people they like, but don't necessarily make a special effort to hang out with. Does that sound pretty equal to you? And that's the funny thing.
Starting point is 00:06:00 Sometimes we're like, oh my gosh, I've only got a few friends, but that is actually reality. Most of us can count the amount of friends we have on our two hands. Now, a different poll of adults, 18 and older showed that 27% of them reported having no true close friends. Maybe we know people, perhaps even lots of them, yet we feel unloved or unseen for who we truly are. I have one friend that I constantly, constantly, I'm so grateful to have in my life, because she's always reminding me of my worthiness.
Starting point is 00:06:32 She's always reminding me of feeling seen, and those people keep them close. I mean, it's so rare. One of the reasons for problems in our friendships and other relationships is poor boundaries. Today, we're talking about nine types of toxic people you meet and how to recognize their behavior and five tools to build better boundaries
Starting point is 00:06:50 so you can create stronger, more authentic relationships. Nine types of toxic people. Number one, there's a great quote whose origin is unknown that goes, some people create their own storms and then get mad when it rains. When I said that, did someone in your life come to mind, perhaps someone in your present or your past from work or a family member or perhaps a friend? This is our first type of toxic person, the catastrophizer.
Starting point is 00:07:18 For the catastrophizer, everything is the end of the world, even the most minoring convenience. They had to wait in a long line at the coffee shop, they got a flat tire, or they didn't get the assignment, they wanted at work, and now their career is over. In their mind, the catastrophizer lives on the edge of a cliff, and even the slightest wind can threaten to blow them over. They lack perspective, and if you try to gently help them
Starting point is 00:07:43 reframe their situation and be more objective They often resist your efforts to help now the catastrophizer is usually that way Because they weren't given much attention when things did go wrong So maybe in their past when they had really difficult situations when they had really difficult Challenges people didn't really take notice, they didn't really care. So now they try and use anything to get that attention. So while we're doing this podcast, I also want you to use these examples as ways of creating
Starting point is 00:08:15 more compassion and empathy. Often we have bitterness, resentment, or hatred towards toxic personality types or toxic behavior. But actually, we want to have compassion and empathy because that's the truth. That people have been given so much pain and so much hurt. That they are now responding in a way or reacting in a way that makes them come across as bitter and hurt. Now, the second type of toxic behavior is the complainer. The complainer is never pleased with present circumstances and feels powerless to change them. If the sun's out, it's too hot. If it's cloudy, it's
Starting point is 00:08:57 depressing. The food is always too salty or too spicy or too bland. It just seems to be no pleasing a complainer. Think of the character Debbie Downer on Saturday night live who always found a way to ruin the fun. When you come to the complainer with good news like about getting the new job you wanted, they quick to point out how hard it can be
Starting point is 00:09:16 to adjust her new workplace or how you will be leaving your old work friends behind. I remember when I first launched my first ever video and my first ever video I had about 250 subscribers and I then got to 500 and to a thousand subscribers in about a month and I was really pleased. I was really happy that people even cared about the stuff I cared about and I remember my friends saying to me, Jay, this is probably the peak, right? Like this is probably the most you're going to be able to get.
Starting point is 00:09:46 And every time I would reach a new milestone, they would think it's the peak and they would always try to remind me of that. Now, this habit, again, to create more compassion and empathy towards a complainer, we have to realize that for them, they might have had someone in their life who always pointed out the negative and their growth.
Starting point is 00:10:06 They might have been someone who's been surrounded by another complainer and now complaining is contagious and so they've taken on their habit. It might have been someone who is so scared of seeing the goodness in life. They're so fearful because they're just so against seeing things in a positive light. They've experienced a bit of pain or stress or pressure. And now they don't want to ever consider their life could be anything. But the third type of toxic person is the critic. The critic is always criticizing other people, usually behind their backs. Did you hear about Alison? They say,
Starting point is 00:10:46 I can't believe she and Danny are having another baby. How are they going to afford that? What are they thinking? Or it can be more insidious and not quite as blatant. Things like, it's so good that you and Sasha worked out that issue around your vacation because you know how he holds a grudge when he doesn't get his way. To the critic, people who don't see the world exactly as they do are never right. Now critics are often created because they've been criticized themselves. A lot of these habits are so, so contagious. I talk about and think like a monk, my book, about a monk that I was so upset that he would always be critical of others. And guess what?
Starting point is 00:11:28 I would then criticize him to others. The behavior that I didn't like in him is the behavior that I adopted from him in my resent for him. It was incredible that quality was like a mirror. I was almost mirroring his habit that I didn't like and didn't appreciate when I would talk about it. We get so consumed by it that we start to believe and we start to think that we're doing something right
Starting point is 00:11:57 by criticizing someone else who's doing something wrong. Actually, by criticizing them, we get dragged into the same space. The fourth type of toxic person is the commodity. Commodrions are with holders. They're reluctant to give genuine support and to offer compliments. They may brush off your announcement of your engagement with the comment like,
Starting point is 00:12:19 how much does that change things really? You've already been living together for years. They are notorious down players. Yeah, I did hear about Rhonda getting her piece published in the New Yorker. She must have had a connection there. They're always got that follow up comment, right? They've always got that added piece of information
Starting point is 00:12:39 to make something feel less worthy, right? They're always wondering, well, how did you pull that off? Maybe it's because of this, maybe it's because of that. And it's a really strange one because they lose out on the opportunity to grow because they always believe that some other people have got a benefit that they don't have. Now, how does one become like this?
Starting point is 00:13:02 Often it comes from parents not complimenting them, parents not actually noticing the good in them. It can also be when someone has become envious and not allowed to live to their full potential. Maybe they've been limited by other people now they want to limit you. Please, please, please do not judge these people yourself. I've made that mistake so many times where I've judged people because of these habits.
Starting point is 00:13:29 When I've actually realized that the answer is to be compassionate to them because if you judge them, you judge yourself, but if you're compassionate to them, you will also be compassionate towards yourself when you're having that issue. Please, please, please understand this point that if you judge them for their mistakes, if you judge them for their habits and behavior, you will judge yourself and you will feel guilty and you will break yourself down. The fifth type of toxic person is the opposite. They are the ceaseless celebrators. These people are always happy. And while there's nothing wrong with a positive and optimistic attitude, the difference with the ceaseless celebrator is that they push away negative emotions, refusing to acknowledge them.
Starting point is 00:14:10 I used to be one of these people probably about 10 years ago, 11 years ago, I was one of these people. Whenever someone was negative, I'd be like, oh, there's nothing to be negative about in life. I wouldn't even explore my pain points. I wouldn't even explore any of my difficult emotions because I just believed that they were unworthy and useless. How can an emotion be useless? How can it be useless to not understand an emotion? An emotion is information, an emotion is a signal. It isn't who you are and it isn't the end of the world, but it is a signal. It's like missing a phone call with some important information. You can ignore or you can choose to ignore the phone call, but then you miss out on the
Starting point is 00:14:56 insight. They're the person who offers clinics and says, don't cry or turn that frown upside down when someone else is upset. They cut off people's feelings and emotional experiences if they're not positive. Another tactic they use is diversion. When an uncomfortable feeling or subject comes up, they quickly change the topic to create a distraction. Maybe you're standing around with some friendly co-workers and someone asks how your partner is recovering from chemotherapy is doing. When you try to respond, the ceaseless celebrated cuts you off. Hey, the falafel truck is here today. I'm obsessed with their fries. Let's go grab some
Starting point is 00:15:29 lunch. Now, it sounds crazy, but you'll start to notice this again, compassion, compassion, because this person doesn't have the emotional capacity to look at their own challenges, to allow themselves to discover their own weakness. Maybe they've really been hurt in the past. Maybe they've been through something really traumatic and painful. And no one's ever asked them about it. Or if they were asked about it, they thought that it would be considered weak if they shared it or expressed it so that they've hidden it the whole time. Please feel compassion and empathy for this person.
Starting point is 00:16:04 Do not judge them. The seventh type of toxic person is the consumer. The consumer can be notoriously hard to spot and yet somehow after you interact with them, you feel terrible. Like your energy or your positivity has been sapped. You may be in a bad mood where you are in a good mood before. The consumer is also that person who has ongoing problems and asks for your advice, you never take it. You end up putting lots of time and energy into trying to be supportive and it's energy wasted. Instead, they feed off this energy and the attention. Another thing the consumer can do is overtake. They feel free to ask for and take
Starting point is 00:16:39 favors, help or support, but fail to give these things. They may say things like, oh, I'd love to help, but I'm just so swamped right now. Or they say, yes, but then pull out last minute. Of course, these things can happen in the normal course of a relationship, but the consumer behaves this way far more often than not. Now, the consumer often ends up like that because they've never been given any validation or any attention or any affection. And now they look for it from everyone. They ask everyone, what should I be doing with my life? What do I need to do? And then they don't take the advice because they don't have the courage and the time to do that. But we've all experienced
Starting point is 00:17:15 this before. I'm Dr. Romani and I am back with season two of my podcast, Navigating Narcissism. Narcissists are everywhere, and their toxic behavior in words can cause serious harm to your mental health. In our first season, we heard from Eileen Charlotte, who was loved by the Tinder Swindler. The worst part is that he can only be guilty for stealing the money from me, but he cannot be guilty for the mental part he did. And that's even way worse than the money he took. But I am here to help. As a licensed psychologist and survivor of narcissistic abuse myself, I know how to identify the narcissists in your life.
Starting point is 00:17:59 Each week you will hear stories from survivors who have navigated through toxic relationships, gaslighting, love bombing, and the process of their healing from these relationships. Listen to navigating narcissism on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Danny Shapiro, host of Family Secrets. It's hard to believe we're entering our eighth season. And yet, we're constantly discovering new secrets. The depths of them, the variety of them continues to be astonishing.
Starting point is 00:18:34 I can't wait to share 10 incredible stories with you, stories of tenacity, resilience, and the profoundly necessary excavation of long-held family secrets. When I realized this is not just happening to me, this is who and what I am. I needed her to help me. Something was gnawing at me that I couldn't put my finger on, that I just felt somehow that there was a piece missing.
Starting point is 00:19:01 Why not restart? Look at all the things that were going wrong. I hope you'll join me and my extraordinary guests for this new season of Family Secrets. Listen to season eight of Family Secrets on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our 20s are saying is this golden decade. Our time to be carefree, full in love, make mistakes, and decide what we want from our life. But what can psychology really teach us about this decade? I'm Gemma Speg, the host of the Psychology of Your 20s. Each week we take a deep dive into a unique aspect of our 20s, from career anxiety, mental health, heartbreak, money, friendships, and much more to explore the science and the psychology behind our experiences,
Starting point is 00:19:54 incredible guests, fascinating topics, important science, and a bit of my own personal experience. Audrey, I honestly have no idea what's going on with my life. Honestly, I have no idea what's going on with my life. Hahaha! Join me as we explore what our 20s are really all about. From the good, the bad, and the ugly, and listen along as we uncover how everything is psychology, including our 20s. The psychology of your 20s hosted by me, Gemma Speg. Now streaming on the iHotRadio, Apple podcasts or whatever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:20:26 The eighth type of toxic habit is the change. The change is a different person to practically everyone they talk to. Maybe you're talking politics and the change in sports, everything you say, then you overhear them supporting someone who says the exact opposite. The change feels hard to pin down. You feel like you never really get a sense of who they are or they believe. And the truth is they don't know. Compassion for the change that comes from the fact that they don't know who they are. They lost themselves. They're trying to figure it out. And they just want to feel a sense of belonging. Maybe they haven't had a place that feels like home, a community that feels like home, their whole life, and now they feel this great sense of loss and emptiness, and they're seeking it wherever they go. And the last type of toxic personality
Starting point is 00:21:14 is the courtroom expert. No matter what you bring up with the courtroom expert, they have an opinion and they're convinced they're right. Even if you don't want advice and just want to be heard, the courtroom expert can't help themselves. They're addicted to advice giving, and often they get angry and frustrated when you don't do as they advise. I've been one of this, too. This was probably like about 12, 13 years ago,
Starting point is 00:21:36 where I thought my advice was the best advice in the world. As time's gone on, I've just realized how wrong I was, over and over and over again. And I just was constantly lost. And I wasn't giving people the best advice. So I was giving people the best advice for me, not for them. And that's why I'm sharing all these personality types with you as we've been going through this podcast.
Starting point is 00:22:00 I hope you can think of people, but I hope you can see it in yourself as well. And when you can see it in yourself, you can really, really start to increase that empathy. And the more you notice this, the more you notice what triggers you, the more you're aware, so that you can avoid having this negative feeling towards that person and create a distance to form respect. In our spiritual tradition, we would often say say respect from a distance. You have to be really spiritually mature to respect someone from up close. Why? Because from up close, you see all of them. Whereas respecting from a distance is something you practice. But at first, you learn to respect someone by only seeing the good in them. Then as you become more aware of their challenges and their
Starting point is 00:22:43 flaws, you can deal with that because you also see your challenges and your flaws And important thing to note is that most people aren't toxic 100% of the time, right? And it doesn't mean they're bad people. Toxicity is a bad pattern, not a bad person. Remember that. Toxicity is a bad pattern, not a bad person. Now, I want to share with you the different types of boundaries that you can create with people. This is fascinating for me because often when we think of boundary, we just think of distance, so we just think of like, oh, well, I won't spend time with them. But when we talk about boundaries, there are many types. Here are some of them. Time is one type of boundary, probably the one we think of the most where we say,
Starting point is 00:23:27 Oh, well, I better spend less time with them or I don't want to see them this Saturday. There's also financial boundary. Right. How much we spend on that person, how much we spend when we go out with them, where we go out with them, what we consider our financial boundary someone often, someone in our family can take advantage of us when we are overly giving financially. Physical boundaries exist. Emotional and mental boundaries exist. And legal and property boundaries exist. If someone puts an arm around you
Starting point is 00:24:00 and you don't want to be touched, that's a physical boundary. If they borrow money and they don't pay you back, that's financial. Or if someone borrowers a possession without asking, that's a property boundary. Now, notice how you can have a healthy relationship with someone with a healthy financial boundary. Because you have a financial boundary with someone, doesn't mean you have a personal boundary with them. And just because you have a personal boundary with someone, we don't have a financial or physical boundary with them. So we again create these binary views of people,
Starting point is 00:24:32 like we're either friends with them or we're not, because they made one mistake. But actually, you can have a healthy boundary with someone in just one area. You may have strong healthy boundaries in some areas, but feel more challenged in others. That's common. Or you may feel more challenged in others. That's common. Or you may feel more challenged with certain people
Starting point is 00:24:47 but not others. Like you may have an easier time laying down a time boundary with your kids. If you're ready for school on time so I'm not also late for work, you have a hard time telling your boss you can't work weekends. Like spending time with your family
Starting point is 00:24:59 or just taking care of your health and recharging is a boundary for you. When we think of boundaries, we often think of a solid line like a fence or a brick wall. That's actually one of the reasons people have trouble with boundaries. They hate the idea of fencing people out. Especially when we want to feel more love and connection in our lives. We're often willing to extend ourselves. And that's wonderful.
Starting point is 00:25:21 But we don't want to extend ourselves beyond what's comfortable for us, beyond what we need to feel safe and respected, and to create true bonds of trust and honesty. We don't want to overextend ourselves. Instead of thinking about boundaries in a way that's black and white, they're there or they're not, let's look at more scientific view. Think we're back to cell biology and the types of cell membranes which are organic cells boundaries. There are permeable in which lots of stuff can easily pass in and out. There are semi-permeable in which some things can pass in and out, but not others, or only under certain conditions.
Starting point is 00:25:57 And there are impermeable, which are essentially sealed off. If I were to ask you which type of boundaries you usually have, which would you say, permeable, semi-permeable, or impermeable. Often it varies person by person or circumstance by circumstance, right? Think of when is a good time to have each of these boundaries. Parents of young kids have pretty permeable boundaries around how much sleep they get. That's not ideal, but they prioritize attending to their kids' needs and they know it's for a relatively short amount of time so they get. That's not ideal, but they prioritize attending to their kids' needs and they know it's for a relatively short amount of time, so they compromise. For me, a semi-permeable
Starting point is 00:26:29 boundaries playing tennis every morning. I really try to get my tennis in every single morning, but once in a while something comes up that just can't be scheduled at another time, and so I compromise. But I do that as literally as possible. An impermeable boundary might be something like an absolute intolerance for racism, homophobia, or other types of discrimination. As you can see, what boundaries we want to have and when are highly personal, even though on some of them,
Starting point is 00:26:55 many of us would probably agree when it's important to draw a firm line. Now, before we look at how to create strong boundaries, let's look at five signs that your boundaries are being violated. This is a first critical step to realizing where we need to put a boundary in place. Now number one is you feel resentful. Either it's being tired of always being the one to pick up after the kids will to do the dishes to always get stuck with the drugs, tasks that work no one wants or being asked
Starting point is 00:27:22 to stay late yet again, you start to feel resentment. Number two, in addition to resentment, you might feel anger, irritation or frustration with others with your job with family or in general. Number three, boundary violations can feel physical headaches, anxiety, stomachaches, and digestive problems, problems sleeping. Often these are forgotten or ignored for quite a while. Number four, you can flat out start to avoid people who are violating a boundaries with
Starting point is 00:27:51 whom you have trouble holding a boundary. Number five, and even less obvious sign that you have boundary challenges is that your relationships frequently seem to end or become problematic or stressful and you're just not sure why. Right? These are all signs to look out for because if you're experiencing any of these things, it just saves you and supports you from a lot of headache. So let's talk about how to create better boundaries and on and the ones you put in place. Let's be honest, that's the hardest part, is really honoring them. And partly, that's because we don't create them well either. So number one, clarity.
Starting point is 00:28:27 There's a saying I love in this regard. Clear is kind. When we don't set down boundaries that are clear and instead of murky or fuzzy or totally invisible, people often violate them unknowingly. That school administrator who keeps asking you to help may not realize how irritated you're getting and how limited your free time is. If you say up front, I'm happy to help with this one project, but because of work and wanting to spend free time with my kids, that's as much as I can do in a year.
Starting point is 00:28:55 I'll turn down any other request. So if there's a specific project you want my help on more than others, please ask me about that one. Was that unkind? No. Was that aggressive? No. Was it assertive? Yes. Setting clear boundaries can be done in a way that's both clear and kind. And when you're clear, people know where they stand and can plan accordingly. This one has been huge for me. I've, I've really been practicing this in 2021. I get asked for so many things that come my way
Starting point is 00:29:25 and I feel blessed to be asked, but I'll always be honest with people and clearing kind has become my new mantra because I never want to hurt anyone. I never want to upset anyone, but I don't just want to run to please people and cause pain to myself. Often we please others and cause pain to ourselves
Starting point is 00:29:42 or we cause pain to others to please ourselves. And the idea is to just be clear and kind. I think of clarity some ways, like I think of my schedule. My daily calendar is full of boundaries. And yet, that's not at all restrictive. In fact, it creates freedom for creativity because I know how much time I have and when. And I know what needs to be taken care of will be. Number two is communication. Admittedly, one of the biggest challenges for all of us in creating clarity is learning how to communicate our needs
Starting point is 00:30:11 with kindness. We think when we're asking for something or saying no, it's got to be that hard no. But a no can be kind. It just takes thought and practice about how we want to say what we want to say, yet most of us never grow up specifically being taught to learn how to set boundaries.
Starting point is 00:30:27 So start small in practice, declare a small boundary. Honey, I'm having to cook five nights a week because I do love cooking, but I'd really love if you could take the other two because sometimes I need a break. Saying no can be especially hard when we want to be a team player and we want to be helpful. But remember, if we don't honor our own boundaries, we can end up experiencing frustration,
Starting point is 00:30:48 depression, health problems, failed relationships, or even worse, really start to mess up our own health. Number three is consistency. When you're consistent with your boundaries, a lot of that toxic behavior I described will fall away. People will start to see that you're not willing to receive what they want to give or that you're not willing to give what they want to take. Number four is consent. When you do have that occasion where you decide to bend a boundary,
Starting point is 00:31:16 you need to ask for consent, your own. Ask yourself if it's truly okay with you to bend the boundary this time. Can you do it just this once or will doing so set a dangerous precedent where it will be harder to stick with the boundary in the future. We don't always have to be rigid, but if we really struggle with boundaries, impermeability in some areas can be the better way to go. Also, of course, we want to respect other people's boundaries. Consent in this respect can be its own podcast episode, but for now, I'll leave it at that, just as you wish your boundaries to be respected, we want to be aware of when other people are laying down their boundaries that want to be respected. And number five, compassion.
Starting point is 00:31:55 One of the things that enables kind communication and clarity is compassion. Again, here I'm talking about the types of boundary violations that are more everyday and not those that involve obviously assault or violence or other types of aggression. There's a proverb popularized by Robert Frost Poem, Mending Wall, that says, good fences make good neighbors. Remember, boundaries don't have to be bad or negative. They can be beautiful. Rebused boundaries regularly reinforced make for reliable, rewarding, powerful relationships.
Starting point is 00:32:29 If you love this episode, make sure you leave a review, share your realizations on Instagram. I can't wait to see what you've learned. And I can't wait to read some of those amazing reviews and to hear what you thought of this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I'll see you next time. Hey guys, this is Jay again.
Starting point is 00:32:49 Just a few more quick things before you leave. I know we try to focus on the good every day, and I want to make that easier for you. Would you like to get a short email from me every week that gives you an extra dose of positivity? Weekly Wisdom is my newsletter where I jot down whatever's on my mind that I think may
Starting point is 00:33:05 uplift your weak. Basically little bits of goodness that are going to improve your well-being. The short newsletters all about growth and sending positivity straight to your inbox. Read it with a cup of tea, forward it to a friend and let these words brighten your day. To sign up just go to jshetty.me and drop your email in the pop-up. If you have trouble finding it, just scroll to the very bottom of the page and you'll see the sign up. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy my weekly wisdom newsletter. I am Mi'an Le Van Zant and I'll be your host for The R-Spot. Each week listeners will call me live to discuss their relationship issues. Nothing will tear a relationship down faster than two people with no vision. There's your all that just flopping around like fish out of water.
Starting point is 00:33:57 Mommy, daddy, your ex, I'll be talking about those things and so much more. Check out The R-Spot on the iHeart Video app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Eva Longoria. And I'm Maite Gomes-Rajon. We're so excited to introduce you to our new podcast, Hungry for History. On every episode, we're exploring some of our favorite dishes,
Starting point is 00:34:21 ingredients, beverages from our Mexican culture. We'll share personal memories and family stories, decode culinary customs, and even provide a recipe or two for you to try at home. Listen to Hungry for History on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Brendan Francis Nunehm. I'm a journalist, a wanderer, and a bit of a bond-vivant, but mostly a human just trying to figure out what it's all about. And not lost is my new podcast about all those things. It's a travel show where each week I go with a friend to a new place and to really understand
Starting point is 00:34:59 it, I try to get invited to a local's house for dinner, where kind of trying to get invited to a dinner party, it doesn't always work out. Ooh, I have to get invited to a local's house for dinner, where kind of trying to get invited to a dinner party, it doesn't always work out. Ooh, I have to get back to you. Listen to not lost on the iHeart radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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