Compassion, Acceptance and when to walk away from tricky people.

You know the feeling when someone steps into the room and the vibe changes? You may notice your breath become shallow, the hair on the back of your neck prickles and your stomach tenses.  Before the conscious mind has a chance to identify why, your body has alerted you to the presence of a potentially tricky person. 

Julia Cameron, in The Artists’ Way, calls them crazymakers. Psychologist Andrew Fuller calls them “Tricky people.” Whatever the name, you can be sure if you live in proximity to other humans, you’ll inevitably cross paths with a few. At work, in the community, even in your own family.

  The more centred we are in our nervous system’s home base, the more attuned we are to intuition. Our inner radar picks up on the erratic energy of the tricky person even before the crazymaking starts.

In those moments, we may choose compassion, acceptance or conciliation. Sometimes this softens the other, helping them feel safe in our presence. At other times, even kindness may be misread as a threat.

That’s when walking away, “shaking the dust off our feet,”  becomes essential. Not just for safety, but to preserve integrity and protect the steady ground our nervous system needs to support the creative work calling us forward.

What helps you know when it’s time to stay and when it’s time to walk away?