Spare Me the Manipulations

Managing Conspirations from Colleagues, Family, and Friends

By: S. K. Johnson

Narrated by: Dan Hamel

Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Are you tired of feeling like everyone but yourself has control over your life? Do you feel manipulated, want to learn more about this complex topic, and yearn to be more independent?

If you've been looking for a book that will enable you to break free from manipulation, build productive relationships, and achieve happiness, then keep listening; you've found the perfect solution!

At some point in our lives, we've all experienced an imbalance of power, especially from our loved ones. Gradually, this kind of negative influence can have a destructive impact on an individual's mental and emotional wellbeing, causing them to be resentful, fearful, and hurt. Does this sound like you?

Spare Me the Manipulations is an essential guide designed to not only teach you how to prevent being manipulated but will also give you a detailed guide to learning what manipulation is, how you can prevent it, and how you can heal and build healthy relationships with your loved ones. Are you ready to learn how?

In Spare Me the Manipulations, you'll discover:

• How to spot manipulators, and practical ways you can learn to overcome or deal with manipulative people and situations
• The negative effects of manipulation and how you can transform toxic relationships into healthy and trusting ones
• Constructive methods you can start incorporating into your life to foster a sense of self through self awareness and building individuality in a relationship
• Strategies to get away from manipulative people and grow into your truest potential, even if you're doubting yourself right now
• Essential techniques to avoid becoming the manipulator by learning to meet your needs, asking for help without manipulation, and preserving your relationships

This in-depth guide is expertly crafted to empower you to make confident decisions without feeling burdened by guilt or the pressure to please others. With the help of simple yet effective tools, you will be able to step into your own power and effectively manage any conspirations from those around you.

Are you ready to stand up for yourself and have the courage to live your truth? Trust in yourself and let this guide be your ultimate recourse for control of your life. Listen to Spare Me the Manipulations now!

©2023 Sandra Johnson (P)2023 Sandra Johnson

Informative and Inspiring

This audiobook is an informative and practical guide to recognizing and managing manipulative behaviors in relationships. It offers valuable insights into the adverse effects of manipulation and ways to overcome it.

Author S.K. Johnson has conducted thorough research and presented information that can prove life-changing or indeed life-saving, for people in manipulative situations. I find Chapter 6 – Walking Away from Manipulative People – particularly empowering. The narrator has done an excellent job of presenting the topic in a clear and engaging manner.

I highly recommend this guide book.

I've had an immense amount of guidance from this book in understanding the mechanics of manipulation and how to prevent it. The understanding of how to stand up for myself and preserve the integrity of the relationships I have has been priceless.

assists you in handling individuals

This book provides a solid introduction to the dynamics of exploitation, revealing how individuals manipulate others for personal gain. It offers straightforward explanations, making it accessible even to those without extensive knowledge of psychology. Readers will gain insight into the behaviors of individuals who undermine their self-esteem and learn effective strategies for navigating such situations. Whether dealing with manipulative colleagues, classmates, or partners, this book offers valuable guidance for managing these interactions.

Learn how to improve relationships

This book is about the complex dynamics of managing interpersonal relationships with colleagues, family, and friends. The author offers personal anecdotes, psychological insights, and real-world examples to illuminate the various forms of manipulation that can arise in our personal and professional lives.

The author provides readers with actionable strategies for recognizing, counteracting, and preventing manipulation. This book is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to understand and manage manipulative behaviors in their personal and professional relationships.

You might need this as much as me

If you are struggling with how to overcome manipulation and build strong, empowering relationships, then you need this book as much as I did. Once you have listened to this book, you will walk away with actionable tactics and strategies to identify manipulative tendencies, establish boundaries, and take back control of your life. It will be your road map for navigating toxic relationships and embracing personal growth, from comprehending the mechanisms of manipulation to encouraging self-awareness and assertiveness. A must-read for anyone looking to make a change and develop real, authentic relationships

Exactly what I needed

I am embarrassed to admit that for the last three years, I have been working with a colleague who is a master of manipulation. Whenever I think our working relationship is going great, I am triggered into doing things that advance his career while my contributions go unnoticed. I have been stressed out and have caught myself bad-mouthing this person to others at work ever since he was promoted for work that I primarily did. Luckily, I received this audiobook for free to help me out, and I am already feeling less stressed. This book has helped me to recognize manipulative words and behaviors early on so I don't end up being taken in and then feeling terrible about myself for succumbing to gaslighting again and again. I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to improve their workplace professional relationships without feeling used.

Very Reassuring Advice!

This is a universal book for anyone (all of us) looking for healthier relationships by setting boundaries and feeling confident in what each of us brings to the table. Highly recommend this book!

No More Gaslighting or Manipulations!

As someone who has easily been influenced throughout my life, I found this audiobook to be enlightening and full of useful and practical information. I really enjoyed that this book not only gave practical steps and strategies for how to deal with different types of manipulations, but it also helps you identify different signs and triggers of manipulations in order to be more proactive and prevent it in the future. If you’re prone to people who play mind games with you, gaslight you, or manipulate you, then this audiobook can help you pinpoint those triggers in yourself and others and prevent it from happening!

Navigating Social Dynamics

In this insightful audiobook, the author delves into the intricacies of dealing with manipulative behavior in various aspects of life. The main themes revolve around recognizing manipulation, setting boundaries, and maintaining healthy relationships. I was unaware how many aspects of my life I was being manipulated in until I gave this a listen and was honest with myself! Through anecdotes and practical strategies, listeners learn to identify manipulation tactics and assertively respond to them. My favorite aspect is the emphasis on self-empowerment and assertiveness training to counteract manipulation. Ideal for those seeking to reclaim control over their interactions and foster genuine connections.

A broad-brush self-help primer

While it contains plenty of generalized material, this book is primarily aimed at people who are currently in (or suspect that they are in) a manipulative family, friend, or romantic relationship. Readers (like myself) who are not personally in any of these situations may find parts of the book to be helpful in a preventative sort of way. The emphasis is on recognizing manipulation in relationships and helping readers to either set and enforce boundaries or exit (depending on the situation). This involves behavioral psychology, but not in the same way as the work of Stanley Milgram, Solomon Asch, Philip Zimbardo, or Robert Cialdini.

What kept this book from reaching five stars for me was what (to me) read like an overemphasis on self-love and unconditional validation of the readers’ feelings. Just because feelings are “valid” in the sense of being real does not mean they are also valid in the sense of accurately reflecting external reality. In combination, I could see these two things leading some readers to perceive manipulations where none exist, and so I would have liked to see more qualifications and disclaimers at certain points. That being said, I expect many readers would either not be bothered by this or see it as a plus, and for the book’s primary target audience, this kind of affirmation may be needed to help them take positive steps to improving their situation, with any potential shift to too much self-love being a secondary issue at most, and so I could easily see such readers giving this book 5/5.

The line between persuasion, influence, and manipulation can get pretty blurry at times, and I thought the emphasis of self-awareness and the dedicated chapter on how to avoid becoming (or stop being) a manipulator oneself were excellent additions.

As a side note, I “read” this book in audiobook format (making this into an audiobook was a good decision on the author’s part). I thought the production quality was excellent, both from a technical perspective and a verbal delivery perspective (for example, the pacing was good, and when listening to audiobooks, I usually notice at least a few words mispronounced, but not in this book).