Toxic Relationships

There are many reasons for relationships being termed toxic. Toxic refers to the poisonous nature of the resentments, conversations, jibes or criticisms that are leveled by one or more of the partners. Overall, they arise when the partners are not fully taking responsibility for themselves. An attacking partner tends to want to control, influence or even bully the other person into doing things they want and they become angry, manipulative and spiteful when they can't get the other person to do as they wish. They may resent the other person for 'not making them happy' when, in reality, each of us is only responsible for our happiness. The person feeling on the receiving end of toxic behavior is also not taking responsibility for himself or herself. Somehow they either blame the other person for why they feel so unhappy, believing that the attacking partner is the reason they are experiencing so much discomfort. However, again this partner is not taking responsibility for themselves and taking steps to educate the other person of how to treat them. Breaking free of such a dynamic is possible but requires a lot of work on oneself - but in the long term, it is invaluable to create a healthier lifestyle and avoid passing such relationships patterns to your children.