“You teach others how to treat you on the basis of what you will tolerate. If you simply “take it,” and you have been for a long time, then you have sent out the message you will not resist abuse. This is not a very complicated theory. If you send out the message that you simply won’t tolerate abuse, and back it up with effective behavior, your abusers will not receive the payoff they are looking for, which is to see you immobilized so they can manipulate you. But if you just take their string-pulling, or register mild objections and then go right on being controlled, you are teaching them to continue using you as a dumping ground.”— Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, “Pulling Your Own Strings”
