Disease to Please

BY Terri Cole

Let’s get right to it. Do you have the disease to please? Getting a diagnosis is as easy as answering the following four questions:

1. Do you say yes when you really want to say no?
2. Do you apologize often? When you are actually not sorry? When you are angry as a way to diffuse and/or end an argument?
3. Do you avoid confrontation at all costs?
4. Do you put everyone else’s needs above your own?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you, my dear, have the disease to please.

A simple mindfulness exercise can be just the prescription!

For the next 48 hours, write down every time you commit any of the above actions. What was the scenario? Why did you respond the way you did? This requires you to not only be very aware of your words and actions but honest about your intentions. If you got into an argument, what was the argument, and were you truly sorry for your behavior or did you just want to get the other person off your back? Did someone ask a favor, what was it, and did you agree to do it because you genuinely wanted to or because you feel guilty saying no?

Are you discovering a pattern to your behavior?

When you do a deed out of guilt or avoid a sticky situation even though it needs to be addressed, you are being inauthentic and dishonest. These qualities cannot exist in truly loving relationships. How can anyone authentically love you if they do not authentically know you?

And you definitely deserve to be authentically loved.

Love Love Love

Terri

Featured image by incurable_hippie on Flickr

Terri Cole, founder and CEO of Live Fearless and Free, is a licensed psychotherapist, transformation coach, and an expert at turning fear into freedom. For almost two decades, Terri has empowered companies, celebrities, professional athletes, and individuals to Live Fearless and Free through television, radio, and other media appearances, speaking engagements, workshops, and a thriving private practice. Her blueprint for success combines harnessing the power of intention, practical psychology, and thought innovation to create sustainable change. Recently, Terri released her first CD “Meditation Transformation”. She is now in the process of writing her first solo book “Live Fearless and Free ~Transform Fear into Freedom in 6 Simple Steps for Sustainable Change” and co-hosting Live Your Truth Love Your Life, an online group coaching program, with yoga psychotherapist Ashley Turner.