Everyday Narcissism. Nancy Van Dyken

       Acknowledgments

      I would like to acknowledge and thank my greatest teacher and lesson giver, my daughter Kelsey. As I made mistakes in my own parenting, my love for her kept me looking inward, seeking my own healing to improve my parenting. It is here that I discovered my own narcissism—how I’d been hurt by narcissism and how I had unintentionally hurt my lovely daughter with it as well.

      I wish to thank my clients, who elected to trust me and believe that I could help them on their healing journeys. I am grateful for their willingness to walk into their own wounds and emotions, their strength in sharing them with me, and their courage to change.

      I want to thank my first editor, Scott Edelstein, who was able to work magic with what I wrote. I appreciate his undying belief in the importance of this book; his confidence that I had something important to share; his continuous challenges to have me think things through and explore key topics more thoroughly; and his help in getting clear about what I was trying to say. He did all this with kindness, gentleness, acceptance, and encouragement. Scott, I am deeply grateful.

      My thanks to everyone at Central Recovery Press—especially Valerie Killeen, Eliza Tutellier, and Patrick Hughes—who helped this book become everything I hoped it would be.

      And to my family and friends who never left my side as I struggled with my ideas and my weariness of writing; all of you consistently believed that what I was doing mattered. Thank you.

      “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

       Mohandas Gandhi

      “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

       Eleanor Roosevelt