Intuition & Discernment
Two of the most powerful tools that we can posses is intuition and discernment. These tools become stronger when we learn to start listening to ourselves and the direction that life is pulling us to. There has to be an ample amount of trust in yourself and life to have access to these tools. Intuition is a feeling. It tells you which direction to go that is the best path for your life. Discernment is your ability to analyze if that path is the best for you. It involves deciphering situations or people with your mind and logic. Both of these tools are needed together to get yourself on the right path.
They can be blocked when you live your life in too much fear. We become scared to trust ourselves due to fear of failure, fear of judgement, fear of abandonment, fear of uncertainty, etc. When we live in a life of fear, we miss out on the opportunities that were meant to be for us. These fears will remain, the longer that we avoid them or try to escape them. Fear grows with avoidance. The antidote to fear is approach. Facing your fears teaches the brain that you are "Ok" when you take a chance. Feeling a difficult emotion is temporary and has the potential to produce better outcomes. When you embrace your emotions, your intuition and discernment become more pronounced. The feeling tells you the direction to go. You make the good choice for yourself, due to your discernment.
When you are exposed to narcissism, your fears tend to increase. This separates you from your intuition and discernment. The ability to see reality for what it is begins to gradually dissipate the longer the exposure lasts. You slowly begin to lose your ability to trust yourself and your ability to discern your situation and the person with narcissism. It is the hope that the person will change or be like they once were in the beginning that keeps you held captive to the relationship. How do you gain more trust in yourself? It is only when you realize how much power you have to face reality head on. This takes a lot of self-reflection and self-compassion to come to this new reality. Fortunately, it can be done!