Understanding Boundaries

This includes your physical space, body, privacy, and property. Violations of physical boundaries might look like:

• Someone touching you without permission.
• Acting inappropriately or too familiar, including sexually.
• Invading your personal space.
• Demanding your time or energy.
• Borrowing things without asking or not returning them.
• Going through your phone or computer.
• Threatening to physically hurt you.

Verbal boundaries involve how you communicate with others and ensure you feel heard. Violations of verbal boundaries might include:

• Not letting you speak or be heard.
• Insulting your character.
• Yelling at you.
• Gossiping about you.

Emotional and psychological boundaries relate to your feelings and what you're comfortable sharing about yourself. Violations of these boundaries might include:

• Criticizing, judging, or demeaning you.
• Manipulating you.
• Using personal information you shared in confidence against you.
• Lying to you.
• Making fun of your feelings, thoughts, or beliefs.
• Making you feel responsible or guilty for their emotions.
• Bullying, shaming, or embarrassing you.
• Valuing their own thoughts and feelings over yours.

Moral boundaries involve your values, beliefs, and ethical standards. Violations of moral boundaries might include:

• Pressuring you to act against your values or beliefs.
• Encouraging or coercing you into unethical behavior.
• Disrespecting or mocking your moral principles.
• Attempting to manipulate you into compromising your integrity.
• Ignoring or dismissing your personal beliefs as unimportant.

Ethical boundaries relate to your principles of right and wrong and how you expect others to behave. Violations of ethical boundaries might include:

• Pressuring you to act unethically or dishonestly.
• Encouraging or forcing you to break rules or laws.
• Disregarding your ethical standards or principles.
• Engaging in behavior that conflicts with your sense of integrity.
• Exploiting or taking advantage of your values for personal gain.

Spiritual boundaries involve your personal beliefs, practices, and sense of connection to something greater. Violations of spiritual boundaries might include:

• Pressuring you to adopt or abandon your spiritual beliefs.
• Disrespecting or mocking your spiritual practices.
• Disregarding your spiritual values or traditions.
• Trying to control or manipulate your spiritual experiences.
• Dismissing or invalidating your personal spiritual journey and beliefs.