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Chuck DeGroat

@chuckdegroat.bsky.social

Hoping to offer goodness & beauty in this digital wilderness | Professor @westernsem | Licensed Therapist | Author | 5 Day SouI Care Intensives | PhD Psychology

1,640 Followers  |  100 Following  |  149 Posts  |  Joined: 14.11.2024
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Posts by Chuck DeGroat (@chuckdegroat.bsky.social)

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Six years in the making and worth the waitβ€”When Narcissism Comes to Church is now out in Spanish!

26.02.2026 23:32 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

We have so much more language for emotional and spiritual health today compared to when I was trained in the mid 1990s, but it’s given us another place to hide, I suspect.

21.02.2026 14:16 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

One of the things I explore in my next book on character formation is how so many of us who talk about β€œself-awarenessβ€œ are, paradoxically, so lacking in self-awareness.

21.02.2026 14:16 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Falling into Goodness: Daily Readings for Lent Falling into Goodness: Daily Readings for Lent [DeGroat, Chuck] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Falling into Goodness: Daily Readings for Lent

Your yearly invitation to consider using this Lenten guide - it’s quite different than anything you’ve seen before!

shorturl.at/B1ARR

18.02.2026 00:27 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

25 years later, I’m watching it.

12.02.2026 01:57 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Years ago I taught an adult education class through the Book of Revelation. Going back through my teaching notes, I found this: What would a Christianity look like without the Beatitudes, the fruits of the spirit, the Christ hymn of Philippians 2, and the economic critique of Revelation 18?

12.02.2026 01:57 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Creating the Conditions for Deep Change Why Safety Matters More Than Confrontation in My Work With Narcissistic Men

What have I learned working with narcissistic men for nearly three decades?

That defenses don’t soften through pressure. They soften through presence.

That we’ve got to create the right conditions for deep change.

Read more:

open.substack.com/pub/sitwithc...

11.02.2026 13:54 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Autonomic Bullying How the Science of the Nervous System Invites Us to Honor Ourselves and Each Other

AUTONOMIC BULLYING happens when we presume authority over another person’s internal state and insist they override their embodied reality to meet our expectations.

It treats dysregulation as moral failure rather than embodied reality.

sitwithchuck.substack.com/p/autonomic-...

02.02.2026 13:17 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Gaslighting is telling someone that what they know to be true β€” what they can see with their own two eyes β€” is false.

25.01.2026 00:25 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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open.substack.com/pub/sitwithc...

22.01.2026 13:39 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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She lived in a time where abuse was rampant, where authorities proclaimed, β€œWe have the right reading of reality. Obey or pay!” She refused the game. She’d lead many into a new way of Jesus-following through humor, humility and ingenuity. I’d like to ask her how we might navigate our present times…

09.01.2026 13:32 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

There’s lots of space for anger, confusion, even wrestling with he and his wife’s words. But be gentle with yourself. This might touch a deep pain that needs kind tending right now.

07.01.2026 17:04 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Love to all of you who saw the news about Philip Yancey and heard a tender part of you whispering within, β€œIs there anyone we can trust?”

07.01.2026 17:04 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Character isn’t declared nor is it performed. It grows in the quiet, where safety is present to foster integrity within, where love, joy, peace and more are not mere window-dressing but the fruits of an inner live cultivated in communion and connection, not division.

07.01.2026 13:23 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

β€œWe have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.”

-General Omar Bradley, Armistice Day, 1948

04.01.2026 20:22 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The new year is not an audition for a better self but an invitation to notice what no longer serves and what quietly wants to grow. 🌱

01.01.2026 13:43 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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New Year's Longings Leaving "Resolutions" Behind | Listening From The Heart

New Year’s Longings: Leaving Resolutions Behind | Listening from the Heart open.substack.com/pub/sitwithc...

31.12.2025 13:49 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

"The great problem of our time is not to formulate clear answers to neat theoretical questions but to tackle the self-destructive alienation of man in a society dedicated in theory to human values and in practice to the pursuit of power for its own sake."

β€”Thomas Merton

28.12.2025 13:48 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

β€œThe Lord did not come to make a display.

He came to heal and to teach suffering humanity.”

β€”St. Athanasius, 4th c

24.12.2025 17:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image 23.12.2025 02:10 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

β€œA great deal of injustice survives by self-ignorance. When you are poorly attuned to your own selfhood, it is easy to remain in denial about what fears, pain, and desires lead you to perpetuate suffering in the world, even your own. Reclaim practices of self-encounter.”
β€” Cole Arthur Riley

17.12.2025 13:06 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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When the Mask Becomes the Face On ego-syntonic lives, character formation, and the courage to become real

People often ask me, β€œDoes a narcissist realize he’s so egocentric?” Actually, from the inside out, everything seems fine.

Psychology calls this an ego-syntonic stateβ€”when patterns, defenses, and adaptations feel completely aligned with who someone thinks he is.

open.substack.com/pub/sitwithc...

16.12.2025 02:37 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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When the Mask Becomes the Face On ego-syntonic lives, character formation, and the courage to become real

When the mask becomes the face: on ego-syntonic lives, character formation, and the courage to be real.

open.substack.com/pub/sitwithc...

15.12.2025 13:53 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Remember: You are not loved for being above the human condition. You are loved for being deeply, achingly human within it.

07.12.2025 14:04 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Age of Cruelty The Costly Loss of Character and The Paradoxical Way Forward

Is there hope in this age of cruelty?

open.substack.com/pub/sitwithc...

05.12.2025 16:32 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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β€œThere is no human who has ever lived who is garbage. A ludicrous impossibility, heresy even. And every Christian should unequivocally say so.”

Thank you @winncollier.bsky.social

05.12.2025 02:41 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Excited to land on a title for my next book!

Who You're Becoming: The Slow and Courageous Work of Cultivating Character In a Narcissistic Age

Coming next Fall.

04.12.2025 13:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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When Character Conflicts with Power How Authority, Influence, and Responsibility Challenge Our Formation

Growing up doesn’t necessarily mean growing mature. With age comes anxiety, shifting your nervous system into self-protection - a state that thwarts growth in character.

open.substack.com/pub/sitwithc...

01.12.2025 13:22 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Follow me here and on Substack at β€œSit with Chuck” as I share this deep change process.

#CultivatingCharacter
#NextBook

25.11.2025 12:48 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

We’ve got to create the embodied conditions for deep change. And that happens beneath the level of words, thoughts, and behavior. The transformation of character begins when our bodies retune to the whisper of Eden - peace, wholeness, rest - from a survival orientation to a connection orientation.

25.11.2025 12:48 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0