How I've managed to grow despite the odds being against me....

 

The main way I have managed to make it thru all the gaslighting and dismissive behaviors is mainly due to hope.  No one will ever snuff out my hope that tomorrow will be always or at least can be better than the day before.   In my case, that would be the chance to help another person with their problems and possibly even solving them, that's the greatest feeling actually solving someone's problem but if I can't do that I always listen, and listen to understand, to put myself in their shoes for a moment and truly see the world thru their perspective is how I am able to be a great active listener and am very empathetic or am able to pick up on how someone feels pretty easily.  Eye contact, body language, and intuition all play a role in my ability to show empathy.  The other major thing is I research anything and first and foremost, I will always hear the other person's side even if I disagree with them.  I will have great conversations and always learn something new but the only barrier's or the only thing that has become a pet peeve of mine are those who only want to spout their opinions and not receive any feedback or if they cannot tell you why they feel or believe the way they do.  If someone listens to me just as intently as I listen to them it will never matter even if we totally disagree because both of us will always feel heard or validated even thou no persuasion happens.  Those who are open to being persuaded are the most important because of their openminded nature, they are the best at active listening and problem solving usually.  I've spent so much time researching ways people gaslight one another, I'm nearly an expert on recognizing the signs.  There is a wide range of behaviors that are subtle ways (mostly narcissist's) use to make us doubt ourselves or interject their reality into ours making us less sure of our own reality, eroding our own sense of self confidence and self worth and creating doubt where none used to be before.  

   My main resource has been perplexity.ai and it has not led me astray but my own preconceptions about how the law works has.  Even if you know the laws it doesn't mean they will work for you, they could very well or just as easily work against you.  I wish this was different but as of now it just is the way it is.  It does make me sad, not for myself but for those who have suffered so much more and more traumatic experiences than I have and the law failed them for one reason or another, but in most cases if someone had taken the time to assess what actually happened and did the right thing then so many people wouldn't feel betrayed by the law.  One way or thing you can ask perplexity.ai is how would it fix the income inequality in america and see what it says will improve that because one thing I know for sure is the lower and middle class spend the most and help others the most while the rich and ultra wealthy only get richer on confusing the so-called 99% with things like predatory loan services and many other things but that's just an example.  Ask the ai some good thoughtful questions and you'll be surprised at the answers you get, I promise.