<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
		>
<channel>
	<title>Comments for Motivate Thyself</title>
	<atom:link href="http://motivatethyself.com/comments/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://motivatethyself.com</link>
	<description>Your Freedom Depends On It!</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:24:03 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1</generator>
	<item>
		<title>Comment on Is People Pleasing Diluting Who You Are And What You&#8217;re Capable Of? by abyooda</title>
		<link>http://motivatethyself.com/is-people-pleasing-diluting-who-you-are-and-what-youre-capbale-of/#comment-3164</link>
		<dc:creator>abyooda</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:24:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://motivatethyself.com/?p=3771#comment-3164</guid>
		<description>nice post, also pleasing others is something that can decrease your performance to the least</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>nice post, also pleasing others is something that can decrease your performance to the least</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Comment on Is People Pleasing Keeping You From Pleasing The Right People? by Sharon</title>
		<link>http://motivatethyself.com/overcoming-people-pleasing/#comment-3161</link>
		<dc:creator>Sharon</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:17:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://motivatethyself.com/?p=3254#comment-3161</guid>
		<description>Eric,
I greatly appreciate your time &amp; energy put into creating this blog, which I just discovered today!  It is a very beneficial resource, which both informs &amp; allows People Pleasers a place to be heard.
Wish I had been aware of it while I was holding my telesummit:  People Pleasers Recovery Time:  Lifeline to Reclaim You!  I would have invited you to be a guest speaker.
Your blog is an excellent, initial step for awareness, acknowledgment, and acceptance. 
 The bottom line for People Pleasers who are not at Peace in their lives is take further action steps to develop Self Love.   It becomes the People Pleasers&#039; responsibility to make  changes to move from where they are to where they be.  In other words, to create a more desired lifestyle.  It&#039;s a choice!  Otherwise, People Pleasers&#039; may become full of resentment &amp; unforgiveness, which are now scientifically linked to cancer.  Also, they could face a nervous breakdown, parent or job burnout etc.  This makes it important to make their time &amp; energy a priority knowing that isn&#039;t selfish, rather self preservation.  A next step if I may suggest, is for a People Pleaser is to pay attention to their thoughts &amp; beliefs.  By doing this it should become evident how &amp; what self talk, beliefs etc. they may want to eliminate/change.  Changing the thought process produces different behaviors.  Therapy may or may not be needed.  What is definitely need if one can not accomplish this alone is empowerment &amp; support from friends, family or maybe even a Life Coach!
Keep up the great healing your words provide here!
Sincerely in Spirit,
Sharon</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Eric,<br />
I greatly appreciate your time &amp; energy put into creating this blog, which I just discovered today!  It is a very beneficial resource, which both informs &amp; allows People Pleasers a place to be heard.<br />
Wish I had been aware of it while I was holding my telesummit:  People Pleasers Recovery Time:  Lifeline to Reclaim You!  I would have invited you to be a guest speaker.<br />
Your blog is an excellent, initial step for awareness, acknowledgment, and acceptance.<br />
 The bottom line for People Pleasers who are not at Peace in their lives is take further action steps to develop Self Love.   It becomes the People Pleasers&#8217; responsibility to make  changes to move from where they are to where they be.  In other words, to create a more desired lifestyle.  It&#8217;s a choice!  Otherwise, People Pleasers&#8217; may become full of resentment &amp; unforgiveness, which are now scientifically linked to cancer.  Also, they could face a nervous breakdown, parent or job burnout etc.  This makes it important to make their time &amp; energy a priority knowing that isn&#8217;t selfish, rather self preservation.  A next step if I may suggest, is for a People Pleaser is to pay attention to their thoughts &amp; beliefs.  By doing this it should become evident how &amp; what self talk, beliefs etc. they may want to eliminate/change.  Changing the thought process produces different behaviors.  Therapy may or may not be needed.  What is definitely need if one can not accomplish this alone is empowerment &amp; support from friends, family or maybe even a Life Coach!<br />
Keep up the great healing your words provide here!<br />
Sincerely in Spirit,<br />
Sharon</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Comment on Is People Pleasing Keeping You From Pleasing The Right People? by dg</title>
		<link>http://motivatethyself.com/overcoming-people-pleasing/#comment-3160</link>
		<dc:creator>dg</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:21:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://motivatethyself.com/?p=3254#comment-3160</guid>
		<description>This is a very nice article with lots of great information.  My wife was a chronic people pleaser, and to make things worse, she is also pathologically shy.  I didn&#039;t really know this when we were married twenty years ago and for the first 12 years of our marriage it caused huge problems in all areas.  Somehow her people pleasing would often involve me as a reluctant participant;  can&#039;t tell you how many times she has accepting a friend&#039;s useless crap that I just have to end up taking to the dump; or how about time time she volunteered to coach our daughter&#039;s soccer team and then asked me to take over because she doesn&#039;t know anything about soccer.  The list is long.
     Her shyness caused huge problems in all areas of our marriage.  She was simply unable or incapable of speaking her mind on anything, be it where to go for dinner or complex stuff like politics.  Whenever I would ask for her input I would be met with a wall of silence.  I had considered walking out many times because I wanted to be married to an equal partner and she seemed incapable of being that equal partner.
     Somewhere around 7 or 8 years ago, after being met with the wall of silence for the 10,000th time, I basically gave her an ultimatum.  Either figure out how to be an equal partner and focus on how to make our marriage more productive (i.e. significantly reduce the people pleasing and shyness) or our marriage is over.
        In my mind, the ultimatum was just window dressing, as I had already conceded that the marriage was over.  To my surprise, however, what happened was almost a marriage miracle.  Within a month of my ultimatum, she significantly reduced her take home work, she began telling me what she wants and needs, she began to tell me when she doesn&#039;t agree with my decisions, and we had arguments and disagreements without the world coming to an end.  We also began to enjoy each others company and started to feel like a true partnership and marriage.
     Fast forward to the present.  My wife is still tremendously shy, but not in the context of our marriage, and the people pleasing stuff is almost a non-issue.  Two or three of her friends still consider me their kind of &quot;go-to&quot; guy for certain things (&quot;can you sell this bike on craigslist&quot;, or &quot;can you put this new bike together&quot;...I used to have a bike shop), but now my wife, instead of agreeing to their requests, will ask me, instead of just assuming, and in some cases their friends pay me or offer to pay me (which I usually decline).  My wife and I talk about almost everything now, and we even have established a regular &quot;date day&quot;, where she takes a sick day (you know, a mental health day, as the saying goes) and we spend the day together (I have a flexible schedule).
     I&#039;m really quite happy with my marriage now, and the point of this story is simply to say that change for the better is possible.  I don&#039;t know how my wife made the change but I&#039;m very happy she did.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is a very nice article with lots of great information.  My wife was a chronic people pleaser, and to make things worse, she is also pathologically shy.  I didn&#8217;t really know this when we were married twenty years ago and for the first 12 years of our marriage it caused huge problems in all areas.  Somehow her people pleasing would often involve me as a reluctant participant;  can&#8217;t tell you how many times she has accepting a friend&#8217;s useless crap that I just have to end up taking to the dump; or how about time time she volunteered to coach our daughter&#8217;s soccer team and then asked me to take over because she doesn&#8217;t know anything about soccer.  The list is long.<br />
     Her shyness caused huge problems in all areas of our marriage.  She was simply unable or incapable of speaking her mind on anything, be it where to go for dinner or complex stuff like politics.  Whenever I would ask for her input I would be met with a wall of silence.  I had considered walking out many times because I wanted to be married to an equal partner and she seemed incapable of being that equal partner.<br />
     Somewhere around 7 or 8 years ago, after being met with the wall of silence for the 10,000th time, I basically gave her an ultimatum.  Either figure out how to be an equal partner and focus on how to make our marriage more productive (i.e. significantly reduce the people pleasing and shyness) or our marriage is over.<br />
        In my mind, the ultimatum was just window dressing, as I had already conceded that the marriage was over.  To my surprise, however, what happened was almost a marriage miracle.  Within a month of my ultimatum, she significantly reduced her take home work, she began telling me what she wants and needs, she began to tell me when she doesn&#8217;t agree with my decisions, and we had arguments and disagreements without the world coming to an end.  We also began to enjoy each others company and started to feel like a true partnership and marriage.<br />
     Fast forward to the present.  My wife is still tremendously shy, but not in the context of our marriage, and the people pleasing stuff is almost a non-issue.  Two or three of her friends still consider me their kind of &#8220;go-to&#8221; guy for certain things (&#8220;can you sell this bike on craigslist&#8221;, or &#8220;can you put this new bike together&#8221;&#8230;I used to have a bike shop), but now my wife, instead of agreeing to their requests, will ask me, instead of just assuming, and in some cases their friends pay me or offer to pay me (which I usually decline).  My wife and I talk about almost everything now, and we even have established a regular &#8220;date day&#8221;, where she takes a sick day (you know, a mental health day, as the saying goes) and we spend the day together (I have a flexible schedule).<br />
     I&#8217;m really quite happy with my marriage now, and the point of this story is simply to say that change for the better is possible.  I don&#8217;t know how my wife made the change but I&#8217;m very happy she did.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Comment on Is People Pleasing Keeping You From Pleasing The Right People? by Ari</title>
		<link>http://motivatethyself.com/overcoming-people-pleasing/#comment-3159</link>
		<dc:creator>Ari</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:28:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://motivatethyself.com/?p=3254#comment-3159</guid>
		<description>Thank you for writing such an insightful article. 
I resonated so much with it and also with Alex&#039;s recent post and your reply to him.
I always thought of myself as a really nice and open person, who just wants everyone to be happy and never wants to hurt anyone&#039;s feelings. I am seeing now that actually I am just very scared of people not liking me so I am afraid to show them who I really am. It&#039;s very painful to see that my actions have really been very self-serving!
I always thought I was very insightfully reading people&#039;s reactions to me. If I sense  that people have an opinion different from mine (whether it be religion, politics, childrearing or even much smaller issues) I just clam up! Rather than risk rejection or possibly hurting someone&#039;s feelings by disagreeing I either agree, or say nothing at all. 
I am constantly analyzing people&#039;s reactions to me and constantly having my feelings hurt when I feel people are not taking the time to get to know me! I realize now that my personality is becoming rather flat,  as you mentioned in the article, I am losing my flavor! It&#039;s no wonder people are not taking the time to get to know me. I have no opinions on anything anymore!  I am losing that spark I once had and I have been blaming others for not allowing me to be myself! 
I feel overworked and run down, I feel especially like my children take advantage of me and use me as the maid and that my in-laws constantly step on my toes, but after reading this article I see where I have (in an effort to be accepted and viewed as perfect) actually put myself in a situation where I don&#039;t receive the respect and love I deserve because I act like a doormat!! 
I can see where issues from my childhood, my parent&#039;s divorce, being a shy dorky girl, moving from east to west coast and being criticized for being different, talking different, led me to try and fit in and conform myself to what I thought was most acceptable to other people. I think I gained some acceptance which led to self confidence in high school and young adulthood and during that time made many close lasting relationships. Then as an adult I went through a painful divorce and when I re-married we moved to my husband&#039;s home town where I knew no one but him and his parents so again I quickly tried to make myself acceptable to everyone by not speaking my mind or being myself until I thought I knew who they wanted me to be! This has NOT worked! 12 years later I am depressed because I don&#039;t have any real friends!
Wow! You have inspired me to take action and get off this crazy train! It has caused me a lot of pain and although my efforts have always been an attempt to make me feel better, they have definitely left me feeling worse! Like you, giving my life to Christ has made a huge difference, although I STILL struggle with this problem, it&#039;s only been 8 years so maybe I need to wait two more?? :)
You&#039;ve written a beautiful article here on a subject many of us struggle with, I feel it&#039;s a great start, now would you happen to have any ideas or insights on raising self-confidence and becoming your more authentic self?
Would love to hear back from you if you have the time!
Thanks</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Thank you for writing such an insightful article.<br />
I resonated so much with it and also with Alex&#8217;s recent post and your reply to him.<br />
I always thought of myself as a really nice and open person, who just wants everyone to be happy and never wants to hurt anyone&#8217;s feelings. I am seeing now that actually I am just very scared of people not liking me so I am afraid to show them who I really am. It&#8217;s very painful to see that my actions have really been very self-serving!<br />
I always thought I was very insightfully reading people&#8217;s reactions to me. If I sense  that people have an opinion different from mine (whether it be religion, politics, childrearing or even much smaller issues) I just clam up! Rather than risk rejection or possibly hurting someone&#8217;s feelings by disagreeing I either agree, or say nothing at all.<br />
I am constantly analyzing people&#8217;s reactions to me and constantly having my feelings hurt when I feel people are not taking the time to get to know me! I realize now that my personality is becoming rather flat,  as you mentioned in the article, I am losing my flavor! It&#8217;s no wonder people are not taking the time to get to know me. I have no opinions on anything anymore!  I am losing that spark I once had and I have been blaming others for not allowing me to be myself!<br />
I feel overworked and run down, I feel especially like my children take advantage of me and use me as the maid and that my in-laws constantly step on my toes, but after reading this article I see where I have (in an effort to be accepted and viewed as perfect) actually put myself in a situation where I don&#8217;t receive the respect and love I deserve because I act like a doormat!!<br />
I can see where issues from my childhood, my parent&#8217;s divorce, being a shy dorky girl, moving from east to west coast and being criticized for being different, talking different, led me to try and fit in and conform myself to what I thought was most acceptable to other people. I think I gained some acceptance which led to self confidence in high school and young adulthood and during that time made many close lasting relationships. Then as an adult I went through a painful divorce and when I re-married we moved to my husband&#8217;s home town where I knew no one but him and his parents so again I quickly tried to make myself acceptable to everyone by not speaking my mind or being myself until I thought I knew who they wanted me to be! This has NOT worked! 12 years later I am depressed because I don&#8217;t have any real friends!<br />
Wow! You have inspired me to take action and get off this crazy train! It has caused me a lot of pain and although my efforts have always been an attempt to make me feel better, they have definitely left me feeling worse! Like you, giving my life to Christ has made a huge difference, although I STILL struggle with this problem, it&#8217;s only been 8 years so maybe I need to wait two more?? <img src='http://motivatethyself.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
You&#8217;ve written a beautiful article here on a subject many of us struggle with, I feel it&#8217;s a great start, now would you happen to have any ideas or insights on raising self-confidence and becoming your more authentic self?<br />
Would love to hear back from you if you have the time!<br />
Thanks</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Comment on Is People Pleasing Keeping You From Pleasing The Right People? by Julia</title>
		<link>http://motivatethyself.com/overcoming-people-pleasing/#comment-3157</link>
		<dc:creator>Julia</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:01:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://motivatethyself.com/?p=3254#comment-3157</guid>
		<description>This &#039;disease&#039; is unbelievably draining. I am only 20 and I&#039;ve never really noticed the harm it can do until recently. But i can&#039;t see myself not being a people-pleaser. And on top of everything else that is going on at the moment, to stop and focus on &#039;fixing&#039; the problem seems nothing but selfish..yet i cannot seem to continue because I am so drained and can&#039;t help but fall into a pattern of recurring depression.  Tips? Advice?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This &#8216;disease&#8217; is unbelievably draining. I am only 20 and I&#8217;ve never really noticed the harm it can do until recently. But i can&#8217;t see myself not being a people-pleaser. And on top of everything else that is going on at the moment, to stop and focus on &#8216;fixing&#8217; the problem seems nothing but selfish..yet i cannot seem to continue because I am so drained and can&#8217;t help but fall into a pattern of recurring depression.  Tips? Advice?</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Comment on Are You Best Friends With Your Spouse? by alex</title>
		<link>http://motivatethyself.com/are-you-best-friends-with-your-spouse/#comment-3156</link>
		<dc:creator>alex</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:09:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://motivatethyself.com/?p=1157#comment-3156</guid>
		<description>this is not a comment..just need a little advice...i was recently married for 4 years didnt work out..im 42 years old...the problem i have,is a meet this wonderful girl,,just walked in the mall to buy some sneakers..we talked and 1 year and 7 months later we are still dating..we have had up and downs..but i would honestly say alot more ups...now the advice...how can i learn to be more of a friend to her,i never want to stop being her friend....and the second thing is im 42years old she is 26...do you think that is a problem....thanks for any advice or comments</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>this is not a comment..just need a little advice&#8230;i was recently married for 4 years didnt work out..im 42 years old&#8230;the problem i have,is a meet this wonderful girl,,just walked in the mall to buy some sneakers..we talked and 1 year and 7 months later we are still dating..we have had up and downs..but i would honestly say alot more ups&#8230;now the advice&#8230;how can i learn to be more of a friend to her,i never want to stop being her friend&#8230;.and the second thing is im 42years old she is 26&#8230;do you think that is a problem&#8230;.thanks for any advice or comments</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Comment on How To Deal With Negative Feedback by Eric Hamm</title>
		<link>http://motivatethyself.com/how-to-deal-with-negative-feedback/#comment-3155</link>
		<dc:creator>Eric Hamm</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:16:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://motivatethyself.com/?p=3080#comment-3155</guid>
		<description>Hey Rachel,

That would be fine. Glad you enjoyed the post. :)

Eric</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey Rachel,</p>
<p>That would be fine. Glad you enjoyed the post. <img src='http://motivatethyself.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Eric</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Comment on How To Deal With Negative Feedback by Rachel</title>
		<link>http://motivatethyself.com/how-to-deal-with-negative-feedback/#comment-3154</link>
		<dc:creator>Rachel</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:33:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://motivatethyself.com/?p=3080#comment-3154</guid>
		<description>Thank you! I am developing a manual for women to know how to defend their communities against indecent materials and I was writing the piece for how to handle negative opposition. I was wondering can I use these tips with your name as credit?
I can send you a final electronic copy of the manual in march! 
Rachel Richins Womenfordecency.org</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Thank you! I am developing a manual for women to know how to defend their communities against indecent materials and I was writing the piece for how to handle negative opposition. I was wondering can I use these tips with your name as credit?<br />
I can send you a final electronic copy of the manual in march!<br />
Rachel Richins Womenfordecency.org</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Comment on The Very Best Motivational And Personal Productivity Quotes On The Planet by RUth</title>
		<link>http://motivatethyself.com/best-motivational-and-personal-productivity-quotes/#comment-3151</link>
		<dc:creator>RUth</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:48:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://motivatethyself.com/?p=3043#comment-3151</guid>
		<description>this one isnt as great as the others, but i kinda live through my like going through this quote - 
&quot;its not who i am underneath, it what i do that defines me&quot; - this is from Batman begins themovie!!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>this one isnt as great as the others, but i kinda live through my like going through this quote &#8211;<br />
&#8220;its not who i am underneath, it what i do that defines me&#8221; &#8211; this is from Batman begins themovie!!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Comment on Is People Pleasing Keeping You From Pleasing The Right People? by Eric Hamm</title>
		<link>http://motivatethyself.com/overcoming-people-pleasing/#comment-3147</link>
		<dc:creator>Eric Hamm</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:11:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://motivatethyself.com/?p=3254#comment-3147</guid>
		<description>“…in the sick world of people pleasing, I am only pleasing others for the selfish reason of their acceptance.”

Exactly!

Eric</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>“…in the sick world of people pleasing, I am only pleasing others for the selfish reason of their acceptance.”</p>
<p>Exactly!</p>
<p>Eric</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
</channel>
</rss>

