Why being manipulative is unhealthy

Being manipulative is essentially seeking reward at the expense of another individual. A manipulative person draws pleasure from controlling, exploiting and degrading another human being.

Why does being manipulative put you at a disadvantage in life?

You may think that you are getting what you want in life and can actually be quite skilled at going through life manipulating people into doing what they want for you.

Why, then, is this approach unhelpful?

Developing manipulative tendencies is directly detrimental to your own well being.

Let me try to explain this general statement in practice.

A manipulative person will only get what they want as long as their victim are not aware of the forces at play.

In practice, every human being learns in life.

Hence, over time, the more you try to manipulate another person, the harder it gets because the other person develops defense strategies.

As this process develops, both the manipulator and the victim suffer enormously.

How does a manipulative relationship end?

There are, unfortunately, no possible positive endings to a manipulative relationship. Typically, these relationships end in hurt, emotional exhaustion, depression or worse.

If you think you already have developed manipulative tendencies, fortunately, there are ways of approaching your relationships and life differently.

More to come,

Peter