This is Hello Freedom and I'm your host Terry Cole.

For almost two decades I've been a licensed psychotherapist and transformation coach, and on this show I will bring you simple strategies based on practical psychology, inspiring expert interviews, and my own insights and observations

from my time on the front lines of the fascinating worlds of entertainment,

empowerment, and mental health.

Now let's get going with today's episode. Well, hello and welcome to this week's episode that I want to start with a

question. Does your kind and compassionate heart, your generosity ever leave you feeling like a

sucker?

My name is Terry Cole, I'm a licensed psychotherapist, a relationship expert, and the founder of Boundary Boot Camp and the upcoming Real Love Revolution.

So let's talk about that. What am I talking about?

I'm talking about feeling manipulated in your life. Do you feel like you

overgive? Do you feel like you overdo in your relationships? Are you drawn to

people who have these very high expectations? are you

to have these very high expectations of what it is that you should be doing for them?

If you said yes, let's talk about why that may be and how can you change it. So the first thing that you need is

your own awareness. People who grew up in homes where they didn't feel super valued or where they were trying to get

positive feedback from a parent perhaps a distant mother or an emotionally

unavailable father can be very vulnerable to manipulators. So that's also our empaths, right?

Our kind people. When you're an empath, you're very dialed in to other people's feelings, but also what they want.

So your own background, I want you to be aware of, because this really does impact the types of people that you attract.

And it's like do you become a mark for someone who's a manipulator because people who manipulate, many of them are really, really good at it.

Another thing to talk about is confusing being needed, right? Do you consider yourself a helper? Do you like being needed? Do you like helping people?

There's a difference though between being truly needed, helping a child, helping an older parent, and getting involved with people who use you,

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