Spirit Guides « Surviving Narcissism

Spirit Guides

The INFJ Chameleon

*As told by the Spirit Guides, because I’ve got to believe they can see auras.

Jon pointed at a woman leaning against a tree. “Look at hers, Margaret. It’s pulsing with silver and turquoise. What does that mean?”

“If I’m not mistaken, Jon, that means she’s very intuitive and compassionate. She might be a healer of some sort. That one there,” Margaret pointed to a fellow who appeared to be angry with his phone, “his is bright yellow.”

Jon turned to look. “What does bright yellow mean?” Continue reading →

Moving On / Spirit Guides — 2 Comments
29
May 16

Dust Yourself Off

“I can’t look!” Margaret pulled the hem of her apron up to shield her eyes. “Don’t tell me what he’s saying. I can’t listen to any more.”

Gladys laughed. “Margaret, what are you talking about?”

Margaret let go of her apron with one hand, squinched her eyes shut and pointed. “Over there. That fellow on the bench. He made some kind of mistake, and now he’s mad at himself. Why must they do that?”

Gladys turned to look in the direction of the bench, as Basil approached. “Good afternoon, ladies. What am I missing?”

“Margaret is worried about that fella on the bench. She seems to think he’s being harsh on himself for some sort of transgression.” Continue reading →

Moving On / Spirit Guides / Stories — 5 Comments
15
Sep 15

On Popcorn, Track Record and the New Guy

“Oh dear! I can’t bring myself to watch.”

“Pass the popcorn, Margaret. This is getting good.”

Margaret passed the bowl of popcorn to Gladys. “Gladys! How can you be so insensitive? She’s struggling. Can’t you see that?”

“Of course I can see that. That’s why it’s getting good!” Gladys scooped up a handful of popcorn in one hand and with the other, she deliberately ate one popped kernel at a time, while watching the drama unfold.

Basil walked over and sat next to Gladys. “Uh oh. She’s at it again, isn’t she.” Continue reading →

Random Observations / Spirit Guides / Stories — 1 Comment
28
May 15

When to Accommodate

“Margaret?”

“Yes, dear?”

Gladys smoothed the crease of her skirt. “Why are you always so accommodating?”

“Whatever do you mean, dear?”

“Well, you always put everyone else first. You always consider other needs before your own.” Continue reading →

Random Observations / Spirit Guides / Stories — 3 Comments
26
Feb 15

On Lost Souls

“Gladys, dear, I’m serving up some cherry pie. It’s still warm. Will you have a slice?”

“Margaret, it’s too early for pie. It isn’t even noon yet.”

Jon road up on his skateboard, “Since when do we have to worry about the time on this side? I’d love a slice of your pie, Margaret.” He leaned his board against a grave marker, “Actually, I think I’ll have pie for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That is if yer making it, Margaret.”

Margaret handed a slice of pie to Jon and giggled, “That’s the nice thing about this side. We’ll never run out of pie.” She scraped the server against the pie plate. “Gladys, if you don’t mind, dear, I’ve been wanting to ask you a question.”

Gladys sat down next to Margaret. “Go ahead. Ask away. Although I don’t know what I could possibly know that you don’t know.” Continue reading →

Random Observations / Spirit Guides — 6 Comments
7
Jan 15

On Looking Back

The pie server made a scraping sound in the hard-packed dirt as she finished carving the words – Stop Looking Back!

“Margaret! What on earth are you doing? You’ll ruin your pie server.” Gladys stood with her hands on her hips as she read the words. “Stop looking back? What’s that about?”

“Don’t interrupt me, dear. I’ve got work to do.”

“But you’ll scare the bejeesus out of them. What will they think when they see these cryptic words next to tombstones?”

“Well, they ought to have the bejeesus scared out of them. They’re all wasting too much time looking back.” Margaret stood up from a crouch and walked a ways to a new spot. She bent to scrape again. “See that one over there?” She pointed to a woman in a business suit. “She’s looking back over her career and wondering where she should have taken a different turn.” Margaret nods her head in a different direction, “That man is looking back at how he lost his family because of his focus on his business. And the gal in the dark glasses keeps looking back at what she used to look like, making comparisons to her current self. What a waste of time!” Continue reading →

Postcards From a Thriver / Random Observations / Spirit Guides / Stories — 3 Comments
24
Aug 14

On the Meaning of Life and Other Vague Notions

“What’s the point?”

“The point of what?”

“You know… the point…. the meaning of life. Why are we here?”

Margaret laughed as she tied on a crisp new apron. “Well, it’s a bit of a moot point now, isn’t it? Besides, I’m not sure we’re supposed to know the point, Gladys, dear. I was always too busy wiping noses, folding laundry, preparing meals and helping with homework to have even a moment to myself, let alone any spare time to think about the meaning of life. What do you think, Basil?”

“I don’t know either, Margaret.” Basil reached for his ever-present thermos of coffee. “For a long time I thought it was finding a decent job and then I figured it must be supporting my family, raising decent kids and being a good husband. Now, I don’t know.” Basil put down his cup of coffee, “Hey, Jon. What do you think?” Continue reading →

Lack of Empathy / Random Observations / Spirit Guides — 6 Comments
11
Jun 14

The Golden Rule in a Narcissistic Culture

“Margaret, do you think today’s narcissistic culture has lost sight of the Golden Rule?”

Margaret wiped her hands on her pressed apron. “I’m not sure I know what you mean, dear? Please explain.”

Gladys hopped down from her perch on a headstone and dusted off the back of her skirt. “Well, the original meaning of the Golden Rule had something to do with empathizing with our neighbor. We were encouraged to walk in their shoes, so to speak, and treat them with consideration. In today’s culture, it appears that the original meaning has been tailored a bit. Now it’s more like, ‘Be nice to your neighbor, as long as they are like you, and treat them the way you’d like to be treated, with no regard to how they want to be treated.'”

“Perhaps an example would help me understand? I’m not sure I see what you mean.”

“I’ll try. As it is now, they judge their neighbor based on how they dress, their car, their house and the school their kids go to. If they have those things in common, then they’ll decide it’s safe to be considerate. At the point of deciding their neighbor is worth approaching, they’ll bring the neighbor their favorite pie, regardless of whether their neighbor likes pie.” Continue reading →

Random Observations / Spirit Guides / Stories — 4 Comments
9
May 14

When History Repeats Itself

“Margaret, just a skinny sliver. Please! I wish I’d never discovered the deliciousness of your pies.”

Margaret chuckled and handed Gladys a plate with the smallest slice of lemon meringue. “Gladys, why do you still worry about your figure? Is that not one of the bonuses of being on this side? By the way, dear, what is your favorite kind?”

“Well, are we talking pie or men?” Gladys laughed as she watched Margaret wince.

“Oh, my! Well, I never. Well, sometimes I do. Oh! listen to me. I’m all flustered and Jon and Basil aren’t even here.” Gladys wiped the pie server on a cloth. “Since you brought it up, dear, what is your favorite kind – or is it type – of man?” Margaret fanned herself and adjusted her apron.

“Relax, Margaret. The guys won’t hear us. And so what if they did.” Gladys dabbed the corner of her mouth with an embroidered napkin. “In my experience, women and men have a type. No matter how many relationships they may have, their partners usually fall into the same category. Maybe he prefers brunettes. Maybe she prefers the quiet type. He needs to be mothered. She keeps trying to find the guy just like her dad. We all have a type.” Gladys reached for her bag to find a cigarette. Continue reading →

Random Observations / Spirit Guides / Stories — 4 Comments
17
Apr 14

“Why Are They So Angry?” – Part 2

Margaret stood with a nearly empty pie pan in one hand, and a pie server in the other. “Hm… why are men so angry? Basil, you better help Jon with that one. I’m not sure I know the answer.”

Gladys fingered the beads of her necklace. “I’ll take a stab at that one, if you don’t mind, Basil. I’m guessing men are angry because the women of today don’t need them like the women in my generation needed men. Men don’t feel essential. They want to be needed, and today’s women are bending over backwards to prove that they don’t need men.”

“Oh my! You might be right, Gladys. Pie dear?”

“No thanks, Margaret. What do you think, Basil? Do you think I’m close on that one?”

Basil reached for his thermos. “I’m gonna need more coffee for this one.” He poured some in his cup and passed the thermos to Margaret. “I don’t know much about men wanting to feel essential, as you put it. I don’t know if that crosses a man’s mind. I never woke up in the morning and set about wonderin’ if I was essential. But, I did feel better when I had a purpose. I liked having to take care of my family and keep the roof over our heads. So maybe you are right. I felt needed and that meant that I mattered, and that felt good. Not that I would admit to that, since in my day, men never talked about their feelings.” Continue reading →

Random Observations / Spirit Guides / Stories — 2 Comments
2
Apr 14

“Why Are They So Angry?”

“Have you noticed the anger coming out of them? They are all mad.” Gladys reached into her beaded bag for a cigarette.

Jon squirted oil on his bearings and gave the wheel a spin. “Why are they so angry? They’re alive. Isn’t that enough to keep ’em from being mad?”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you, Jon. But all of them are angry. Some of them keep the anger bottled up. Some of them explode at the first provocation. It’s a shame, really. And by the way, I’ve made some fresh pie today – French Silk. That was my husband’s favorite. I made French Silk for every one of his birthdays. In fact, I often made him French Silk when he was angry about something. That’d do the trick every time.” Margaret reached behind to re-tie her flowered apron.

Jon put down his board and walked to Margaret’s side, “My mom made a chocolate pie. Is that what that is? I’d love some.” He takes a slice and leans against a grave marker. “So, Gladys, what are they mad about?”

Gladys exhales and says, “It’s more about who they are mad at. They are mad at their boss, or their boyfriend. Most often they are mad at their husband. A lot are mad at their mother or father. Hell, they’re mad at everyone.” Continue reading →

Random Observations / Spirit Guides / Stories — Comments Off
18
Nov 13

What Happened to Christmas?

“What happened to Christmas?”

“Don’t you mean, ‘What happened to Thanksgiving?’ Didn’t there used to be a holiday somewhere in there between Jack O’ Lanterns and Christmas trees? You remember, don’t you? That holiday that brought everyone together for turkey and pie.” Basil pours a cup of coffee and hands it to Gladys.

Margaret slides the pie server under another piece, “Oh, I always did love Thanksgiving. I think that holiday was my favorite.”

Jon rolls to a stop on his skateboard, “My fav was Christmas. Yeah…. for a kid of divorced parents, Christmas rules. All their guilt turns into way too many Christmas presents for me. Gotta love that.”

“Jon, dear, you know that isn’t what Christmas is about, don’t you?” Margaret hands Jon a sliver of pie. Continue reading →

Random Observations / Spirit Guides / Stories / You Might Be a Narcissist If ... — 2 Comments
5
Sep 13

They Need to Talk

“Jon, dear, please remove your fingers from your ears. How will you break your fall if you should crash that board you insist on riding?”

He streaks by with an annoyed look on his face. He doesn’t hear Margaret. He’s trying not to hear anything. Tuning them out is not possible. That’s all they do. They talk and blather on and they never stop to listen. He makes another pass and stops in front of Gladys, “If I hadn’t lost my ear buds, I wouldn’t have to plug my ears. Have you seen my buds anywhere?”

Gladys exhales a long puff of cigarette smoke, looks at Jon and says, “What are buds?”

“Speakers. Ear buds are little speakers that fit in your ears. I plug ’em into my iPod and listen to music. You know, music? I lost my buds.”

“You mean that white cording draped over that marker back there? Are those the ear buds you speak of?” Continue reading →

Moving On / Random Observations / Spirit Guides / Stories — 7 Comments
27
May 13

One Afternoon at the Cemetery

She winds the strands of her beaded necklace through delicate fingers. Tilting her head back, she exhales, and points the ember in the direction of the couple yelling at their dog.

“What is it with people and their dogs? I mean, dogs are swell, but why bring your dog to the cemetery and then yell at it for running through the grass and sniffing at other folks? For God’s sake! Get that dog to a park, let it run and stop yelling at it.”

“Gladys, you’re dropping ashes on your dress. Shouldn’t you be more careful, dear?”

“Thanks, Margaret, but you know I’ve got more dresses where this one came from. It’s just a dress. What kind of pie are you making today? Lemon chiffon? Banana cream? Or blueberry? I love hot blueberry pie dripping with real cream – not that stuff they call cream now-a-days.”

“Hey, Gladys. You sure they can’t hear us? You sure I can skate off of these grave markers? Nobody’ll care, right?” Continue reading →