Good morning,
Over the last few weeks I have noticed a number of Instagram posts on the subject of toxic kindness.
Toxic kindness can be described as encouragement in a difficult time that actually makes you feel worse.
For example, you might be struggling with a tough emotional issue and your friend tells you, "Don't worry about it. Everything will work out fine in the end!"
On one level it is nice to receive encouragement from someone in your life. At the same time, that kind of response to your struggle can feel dismissive, as if you're being judged as overly dramatic and you just need to get over it already.
When we are being a friend to someone in need it can be hard to know how to calibrate our response. If we are not thoughtful about how we respond, it can be easy to make a misstep when trying to be helpful.
I don't think describing this issue as toxic kindness is necessarily useful, but I do think it is important to recognize that this type of kindhearted incompetence can be hurtful.
This week I have a tap-along audio and tapping script that is perfect for when you feel as if other people's attempts to be kind are actually making you feel worse.
You can find the tap-along here: https://tappingqanda.com/519
I'd love to hear your experience with toxic kindness, kindhearted incompetence, or whatever you want to call it.
Blessings,
Gene
