LOVE BOMBING + GASLIGHTING = NARCISSISM.

What we may perceive as romance, or sweet gestures to share how much someone is into us or wants to honor us might actually be signs that they are narcissists.

Yep, you read that right.

But, Kendal, a narcissist, does not give a rats rear end about anybody but themselves. They are self-centered and stuck in the ME, ME,ME way of existing and they have the mentality that everyone should feel the same way about them. They have zero to no empathy or concern about others so WHY would they romance me, or do an obscene amount of kind gestures?

It is true that the word narcissist comes from the tale from Greek mythology about a young man named Narcissus who fell in love with his reflection in a pond. However, a true narcissist’s nature is to guarantee that you provide them what they need. Which is worthiness, love, adoration and to be the center of your attention.

THEY NEED YOU TO SEE THEM.

Because the reflection is not enough.

Because it is not fulfilling.

And they have an inflated ego, and as is the case with inflated egos or anything, there must be something to support and keep the inflation there or it will lose its luster.

The narcissist, typically subconsciously goes about trying to achieve the love needed from others because they do not know how to love themselves fully and are too empty to even understand what they could do to feel complete without the manipulation of others.

In their pursuit to gain your attention and be center stage, they believe that they have to first show you what you would be missing if they were not there. So they try to swoon you in an attempt to win you over. They come on hot and heavy often with what is referred to as love bombing. And throughout the relationship, when you wake up to some of your senses and start to question why you feel so drained and out of balance in life, they will quickly swoop back in with some love bombs to further confuse you.

Because you see the BIGGEST characteristic of a true narcissist is not the lack of empathy, however that is a major player, but it is the game of manipulation and gaslighting. Consistently making you feel off balance and question yourself.

There are many ways that narcissists go about confusing their prey but for today’s topic I want to address the term, “LOVE BOMBING,” as it makes being in a relationship with a narcissist ever so difficult to leave.

Narcissists are typically pretty intelligent, they are good at reading you. They can pick up on when you are starting to pay attention to the manipulations and seeing them for what they really are and in these moments they will, “Love Bomb,” you so your heart goes all a flutter and you you believe that they were just having a bad week at work, it was family trouble, health issues, their hormones, stress of one nature or another or just simply a miscommunication. They will have you believing in no time, or at least contemplating that perhaps it was not them, but instead you that was seeing things and acting out of place.

They do this through gaslighting, as they are masters of it.

What is gaslighting you may ask. Its something we hear so much about in today’s world, its a keyword for sure to be searched on, but here is the basic breakdown to assist you in recognizing your happy love bombing narcissist in action through gaslighting. Realize that these things will most likely occur with flowers , wine, a beautiful dinner or trip that was unexpected, or just snuggling on the couch or chatting where you believe that you are being heard and seen by them but in truth, the stage is only getting set for them to make you question reality.

5 SIGNS OF GASLIGHTING NARCISSISTS ARE MASTERS OF

1.They tell blatant lies, they may say it was a white lie, a lie of omission or even that you misconstrued their words or the event, but it’s still all the same.

2.Deny they said or did it, EVEN THOUGH there is evidence. Yes they will go to the grave telling you it is not so and that you are mistaken. They will attempt guilt, pity, shame and anything that they can to make you believe differently than the evidence right before your eye’s.

3.They will use what is near and dear to you as ammo against you. They are masters at playing take away. If you don’t see it their way then they will take their ball or yours for that matter home with them and give you the space that you are asking for, see how much they care? They will also attempt to sabotage you through people close to you by talking smack, sharing secrets and revealing their “concern” for you as though they are wanting to help when in fact they are just setting a stage for you to look and feel crazy.

4.They wear you down over time. THIS is possibly one of the most used and overt things that a narcissist does. How they go about wearing you down comes back to the love bombing, and the using what is near and dear to you as ammo. They are patient MFers and they will just sit and wait for their prey to forget all the “stuff” back there that they were manipulating. Understanding that time has a way to get us to not see clearly and forget the details that were getting them busted.

5. They throw in positive reinforcement! (AKA Love Bombing) and empathy, support, caring, being kind, being sweet, giving space, etc. And they do this as a way to confuse you. They understand that confusion weakens people. So they will love bomb you as well as gain positive reinforcement from others who they have aligned with them in “concern” for you. That is where you will hear such statements as, “ You are overreacting or are crazy.” – “They will tell you that everyone else is lying to you and that they are not liked by the others in your life, that’s why these things are being said/done and the reason youa re feelingthe way you are.” – They will reach out to those they have been aligning with to get them to support these things and further question yourself.

What is love bombing you may wonder?

10 SIGNS YOU ARE BEING LOVE BOMBED BY A NARCISSIST

They lavish you with gifts. Yes, that is correct. They will be excessive, they will buy jewelry, trips, the finests of fine and work hard to impress you. Which as a stand alone is nothing to fear, and can just be romance from a partner that wants to honor and adorn you, show their appreciation and love and share beautiful experiences with you. However, the love bomb narcissist will do this pretty much out the gates to win you over and not try and get to know you as much as win you. UNTIL – You don’t give thanks and appreciation the way they deem fit, then they will take their lavish gifts home with them and remove evidence of them as it will cause them too much pain to have the memories..

Compliment rich! Never without telling you how great you are, beautiful, smart or awesome. The love bomb narcissist will feed off of the understanding that we all can use a pat on the back, appreciation, applauds and a pick me up. The love bomb narcissist cannot help themselves. You can do no wrong and make no error with this soul. -UNTIL you do, and then you don’t care about them and you have misconstrued everything. Then the tides will tip.

Bombard you with calls and texts. Or love letters or letters of appreciation. Again we all want and need communication, connection, and support, however the love bombing narcissist will give it in excess and expect it to come back the same. After all, they are doing it out of love and concern for you and the support of the relationship, so if you do not hold up your side of the excessive “communication & appreciation” then you are the one who is being selfish.

They want your undivided attention. Love bombing narcissists HAVE TO BE THE CENTER OF YOUR WORLD. They will find competition with all other relationships that you have in your life. And they will assure you that they are not competing, but are just wanting connection. They will find drama or create drama to make sure that your focus is on them at all cost. If you are not giving them the adequate amount of your mental, emotional and physical time then they take this as a sign that you do not care and that YOU are the one suffering from a lack of empathy, no matter what is going on in your life and world, they are the most important thing in it.

They try to convince you that you are a soulmate. I love this one. I have been “the one” and had a “stream of consciousness” supposedly with so many people that I think that my eyes might be stuck in the back of my head from all of my eye rolling. Seriously though, the love bombing narcissist is INSISTENT AF that there is a unique and special connection between you and them and they are willing to go to the greatest of measures to prove it. So just do yourself a favor and start feeling it like they do, why don’t you. ( Know that in true soulmate connections or where you feel that you are on the same wavelength with another in emotion, thought and intention that both parties will feel and think this and there is zero need to convince or point to things to make it obvious, you just know. Never allow someone to tell you how connected you are to them if you don’t feel that connection yourself.)

They want your commitment & they want it NOW! Love bombing narcissists demand your loyalty and commitment, they want to know that you are there for them and they will tell you all the ways they have your back. This will show early on in a relationship and only grow stronger in the demands for you to commit the way they desire for you to show up as the relationship progresses. There is no conversation about what your style or needs around commitment is. It’s only what they deem right.

They get highly upset when you place boundaries. This is a big sign of a narcissist in general. If you want to see a narcissist go stir crazy, act pathetic, and wounded like you cannot imagine and even become deathly ill, or literally get mad AF and have a manic break, set your boundaries and they will tell you how wishy washy you are, how they don’t understand you, and how you must really be going through things because this just came out of nowhere. They will attempt to make you believe that your boundaries somehow are causing them all their pain and suffering and that you “should” reconsider your actions if you REALLY cared about them.

They are overly needy. We hear about how needy narcissists are, well the love bombing narcissist is even more excessive in their need for emotional support and physical time spent with them. They are what you might refer to as “high maintenance” and may even appear as though they have an anxious love attachment style.

You may feel overwhelmed by their intensity. Love bomb! Love bomb! Pay attention to ME, ME, ME. Are you mad at me? What’s wrong? Here I thought you could use this. Yes, all of these things and the constant demand on your time and energy may cause you to feel overwhelmed. No relationship of any definition should require you to feel overwhelmed and exhausted or have you questioning your own sanity (unless the person is actually deathly ill and needing constant support, this is not a reasonable expectation in a relationship).

You will feel out of balance and unsorted. Love bombing narcissists and narcissists in general drain you of your vitality. They make you question who you are, what you are doing and feeling and this tends to leave you in a state of feeling lost in yourself, empty and unbalanced. You may have trouble focusing, getting your work done, setting goals, sleeping or just decompressing because the demands from the narcissist relationship never feel to let up.

So all of this and for what?

So that they feel worthy and lovable.

Yes, the narcissist at the end of the day is the saddest one in the relationship, because they are a soul who cannot find peace and love from within and believes that these things can only come from outside of themselves. As you will someday most likely set the boundaries needed and apply the distance required for your own healing from this relationship, the narcissist will be left starving and dependent to find yet another to prey on so they can see the beauty in their reflection once again.

For they believe that the image they see cannot be true without another seeing it as well.

As Always,

Stop Existing & Start Living

“Coaching for Grown A*s Believers”

Want to learn what makes you available for the narcissist relationship and how you can overcome calling them in? Discover how you can recover your heart from these relationships and how to see the writing on the wall before you enter a potential new one. DFW peeps explore my June 5th workshop on these topics and for a more comprehensive healing and coaching ask me about my 1:1 around thi dating and relationship epidemic now.