What is the Energy of Manipulation? This article is an exploration into the energy of manipulation including its use as exploitation and the inherent threat of violence often utilized. More importantly, are several easy-to-understand to not engage and maintain your personal sense of control and power.
There are many forms of power exchange in which one uses and exploits another for their own gain.
The gain may be getting something – or may just be for the malicious experience of causing psychological impact.
Manipulation wants to establish dominance.
Manipulation seems to indicate control.
Stopping manipulation is not possible and not the goal.
In almost all cases, you do not control how someone behaves or what they choose.
You do you, you control you.
The best response to manipulation is to not engage and then to play dumb.
Basically, this indicating to yourself you are in control of you.
Manipulation uses fear to exploit you emotionally and direct your actions.
In the face of manipulation, if you do not respond or react to the primary fear or path of exploitation, you have the opportunity to sidestep the emotional entanglement and step outside of the reach of the manipulative threat.
This will most likely cause the manipulator to escalate.
Remember, the first point is to resist the attempt to dominate you by not engaging.
Remember you control you – you cannot control or placate the manipulator.
This is where most folks get caught because the typical focus is getting the other to stop.
Responding to the Energy of Manipulation
Whereas the effort begins within you – to get you to change, to not react, and to choose not to respond to the manipulative, fear-based challenge.
This is so important and can’t be stressed enough.
In the face of manipulation, you shift your response and don’t respond to the manipulator except with words of doubt.
I don’t know.
I don’t understand.
These are the best responses if you feel you must say anything.
To prepare yourself to deal with manipulation, begin with this idea:
I owe no one an explanation, or response, or a solution.
Just because someone asks, does not immediately obligate you to any response.
If you do respond, this is your choice and hopefully a conscious choice based on you and your personal power.
Remember when you react unconsciously, without thought – a mindless reaction – you are giving up your power in the moment.
Depending on your circumstance and the context, within mindlessness you may have jettisoned your power for more than just this minute.
This is what you need to remember about manipulation.
The desire instilled in all manipulation demands you give up your thought, your choice, and your power.
Most importantly, you give up your power willingly to be exploited and negated by the manipulator.
You will always pay a high price giving up your power. (Though no matter what, your power is always retrievable.)
In the face of manipulation, relinquishing personal power feels like the best path of self-protection.
However, you lose self-determination and self-choice.
You are emotionally and psychologically battered in this one-sided exchange.
Training yourself not to respond to manipulation is difficult.
Most are raised to believe they must answer intelligently and civilly to any request.
There is much personal power retained when you resist this urge to answer. Instead, respond with:
I don’t know, what do you think?
This at least gives you a moment to contemplate the situation and makes it a bit easier to again sidestep the next manipulative trick.
The Violent Threat of Manipulation
The other dragging motion in this is the threat of violence.
The violence doesn’t need to be only physical or sexual as there is also emotional and psychological violence.
Violence is the intentional motion to do harm.
Violent manipulation uses intentional hurt and harm as the fulcrum to get what is wanted.
For most of us, when there is an intentional motion of hurt and harm, we are shocked. We are stressed.
We either fight, fly, or freeze.
We are caught unexpectedly in an energy flow filled with malevolence, with painful stress, and a threat of possible physical harm.
This is a difficult situation often with tinges of life or death.
However, the best advice: don’t engage and don’t respond.
Energetically feel yourself take a step back, pull your power into yourself.
Breathe deep. Feel you have the ability to be you fully and intentionally.
Doing so, you have done the exact opposite of the of the manipulative intent.
This is making a choice which flies in the face of not just this lifetime, but many before.
However, this is such a powerful, choice-driven response, this will change you beyond anything you can imagine.
By deciding you owe no one an explanation and by not reacting to manipulative challenge, you alter the entire course of your life.
You alter your DNA, and you release outdated habit you have absolutely no idea you have been bound by.
One simple choice on your part: I own no one an explanation.
Let this sink in.
Then we will talk about how energetically you can respond to the threat of violence.
The Energy of Manipulation is one of many articles in Mindful Moments.
