John is joined in this episode by Mel Clarke, a soul relationship coach. Mel shares her personal journey of self-discovery and healing, highlighting her experiences of being in a toxic relationship and the importance of setting boundaries. She reflects on the challenges of dealing with narcissistic behaviour and the impact it had on her self-worth and relationships. The episode delves into themes of empathy, boundaries, and the complexities of navigating toxic relationships while prioritising self-care and personal growth. KEY TAKEAWAYS Boundaries are essential for self-healing, self-love, and self-worth. Recognising patterns and defence mechanisms in oneself and others is crucial for understanding behaviour. Empathy and understanding can sometimes lead to tolerating abusive behaviour for longer than necessary. Setting boundaries and prioritising self-care is important, even when it means letting go of toxic relationships. Personal growth and spiritual development often involve facing difficult situations and learning from them. BEST MOMENTS  "I have a real passion to help men and women that are settling in their relationships predominantly because millions, if not billions of people are doing that every day."   "It's all love and light, right? Higher consciousness and energy and the universe and all the rest of it. The rest of it is like ego-based defence patterns, things that we've learned from a kid when our own needs weren't getting met as a child." "Mel, stop putting everybody else's feelings before your own. Get your f*****g boundaries in place, love. And, you know, practice what you preach, basically."  "It's interesting about your character, isn't it, that you keep trying to, or you kept trying to see his side of things. You kept trying to put yourself into his shoes, that empathy, yeah, kind of was well kind of too far, too much empathy." "But again, without prying too much into your personal life. Have you fallen out of it now? Because something that he's accusing you of that you've done wrong that he can't face up to?"  Links: www.melclarkecoaching.com  (3) How To Live a Life of Purpose with True Love and Passion | LinkedIn Links: www.johnkennycoaching.com The Bicycle Affect: https://youtu.be/oO7XZGvdWno Relationship Video course and 1-2-1 coaching: Relationship Ready Online Programme - John Kenny (johnkennycoaching.com) To get in touch - email – [email protected] or book a complimentary call –https://calendly.com/johnkennycoaching/30min If people want to order a copy of the book then they can just pay postage of £4.95 (RRP £8.99) - www.johnkennycoaching.com/podcast-book-offer Want to be able to address the relationship issues in your life? - Why not book in for a complimentary call and we can discuss how you can get the new started with some new types of relationships - https://calendly.com/johnkennycoaching/30min The Relationship Guy Podcast - https://omny.fm/shows/the-relationship-guy Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/johnkennycoaching LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-kenny-coaching Insta – https://www.instagram.com/johnkennycoaching/ Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/johnkennycoach YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHTj9x6Tlo7lcIJITyx-tgQ Clubhouse - @relationshipguy I am John Kenny, Award Winning Relationship Coach. Coaching people to experience healthy loving relationships. Having spent a life choosing unhealthy relationships and self sabotaging my own success, I now coach people to live a life they choose.