Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 2h

👉LINK: open.substack.com/pub/branon/p...

8 Phrases Narcissists Use to Control You

Unraveling Words And Cutting Strings of the Narcissists

open.substack.com

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 2h

Ever had someone twist your words until you start doubting your own memory? That’s not miscommunication - that’s control.

Find out the eight common gaslighting phrases they use.

👉See Comments for Article Link

1

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 23h

Narcissists are great at conditioning you to believe that your emotions are overreactions instead of signals that something’s deeply wrong.

1 3

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 6d

🚨Podcast Drop: Fake Strong Men

Fake masculinity is not strength. That’s trauma acting. And until men take it off, the damage keeps multiplying. The question is: can men finally face the story that made them put on the mask in the first place?

👉Link: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 6d

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 18d

That’s not mentorship, it’s manipulation dressed up as learning to be “just one of the guys.”

Mentorship builds worth, manipulation breaks it.

Branon Dempsey

#FalseMasculinity #ToxicMentorship #Gaslighting #YourStoryMatters

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 18d

They mock vulnerability, twist strength into domination, and convince them that compassion is weakness. Simply, it’s rewriting the rules so younger men doubt their worth and keep chasing their approval.

1

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 18d

They call it mentoring, but when older men gaslight younger men, they create false versions of masculinity.

1

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 18d

Most men think time heals everything. It doesn’t. The wounds you carried as a kid show up in your 30s and 40s as control, silence, or pretending you’re fine when you’re not.

1

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 22d

Stop performing for love. Start living from it.

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 26d

Healing means refusing to play in their script anymore. It means naming manipulation for what it is and choosing your peace over their lies, excuses, shamming and chaos.

#NarcissisticAbuse #Gaslighting #EmotionalHealing #AccountabilityMatters #ChoosePeaceNotChaos #YourStoryMatters

1 3

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · 29d

Healing is not pretending it never occurred, it is naming it so it no longer controls you.

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Sep 6

When I stopped letting old voices narrate my present, I began to heal from what I thought was me. The more you anchor in who you truly are, imposter syndrome loses its power and that fear no longer controls you.

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Sep 6

Boundaries are living, breathing protections of your worth. They flex depending on the situation, as they keep you safe and whole. What I am learning is that the most powerful thing about boundaries isn’t that they keep people out, it’s how they keep you intact.

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Sep 6

Imposter syndrome is the gnawing fear that your worth is up to other people’s judgment and approval. For childhood trauma survivors, this fear doesn’t come from nowhere, it comes from years of being told directly or indirectly that who you were wasn’t enough.

1 1 4

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Aug 30

Healing doesn’t just make you unstoppable—it makes you untouchable to the tactics that once worked.

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Aug 23

🚨Podcast Episode Drop: Our guest BJ Communicates joins us to talk about the cost of “forgetting the truth” when it comes to childhood abuse—and how many of us were taught to bury what really happened.

🎧 DOWNLOAD & LISTEN: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

🌠 BJ Communicates | Telling The Truth We Can’t Forget | Ep. 008

Podcast Episode · The Your Story Matters Podcast · 08/23/2025 · 43m

podcasts.apple.com

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Aug 23

Healing starts the moment you don’t allow unsafe people to dictate your story and the time it takes for you to heal.

#Childhoodtrauma #traumarecovery #emotionalfeed #YourStoryMatters #BranonDempseyWrites

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Aug 23

Narcissists love to make their chaos your responsibility. They’ll walk into a room heavy with unprocessed emotions, drop it like a ticking time bomb, and then act like you’re the one who lit the fuse.

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Aug 22

🤯 EPISODE DROPS TOMORROW:

Our guest BJ Communicates joins us to talk about the cost of “forgetting the truth” when it comes to childhood abuse—and how many of us were taught to bury what really happened.

#BJCommunicates #TheYourStoryMattersPodcast #InnerChildHealing #SelfHealing

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Aug 21

Healing isn’t about erasing the past. It’s about reclaiming the present so you can build a future. Because you are not meant to live frozen in survival. You are meant to live forward—steady, grounded, unshaken.

Your story matters.

@BranonDempsey

#YourStoryMatters #TraumaHealing #HealingJourney

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Aug 21

Unsafe people only invalidate what they don’t understand.

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Aug 19

Guilt is a terrible decision-maker.

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Aug 18

Healing isn’t about pretending the past didn’t happen, healing is about managing the pain you’ve been through.

1

Branon Dempsey / Your Story Matters @branondempsey.bsky.social · Aug 16

You weren’t created to be silent just so someone else could be comfortable