DETOX

All of us have experienced one or two toxic people during our lifetime—co-workers and bosses, lovers and former spouses, sibilings, parents, children or people we thought were friends.

Toxic family members are often the most difficult to deal with, because we’re related to them and think we can’t get rid of them.

In case you’re wondering, here are several characteristics of toxic people:

• They are manipulating. They will do whatever they need to control you and any situation that they feel is in their best interest.

• They blame others for everything, especially things about themselves they don’t want to acknowledge. They rarely say they’re sorry for their actions.

• They take no responsibility for their own actions. In their mind, they can do no wrong.

• They are often critical, judgmental, and cruel. There is simply no emotional filter and see no reason to control how they express themselves— yelling, name-calling, and worse.

• They make you feel guilty for things you didn’t do, or did.

If you have a toxic family member, here are some ways to cope with their behavior, and keep your sanity.

1. Create boundaries.

This is easier said than done, but essential to do. Learning to set boundaries may take some time to figure out, especially if there are few or no boundaries within your family. Toxic people don’t want you to have boundaries, because it’s harder to control someone who is not easily accessible to them.

2. Limit your contact.

This may be hard to do, especially because your family gets together on various occasions. Although you may not be able to totally avoid contact, you can find ways to surround yourself with people you do get along with as a way to insulate yourself from a toxic family member.

3. Don’t engage.

Aside from limiting your contact, it’s important to not play into any interaction, especially when it is provocative and argumentative. It’s hard to hold your tongue when someone is saying and doing outrageous things, but it’s important to learn for your own sake.

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1. Is the book of Nahum in the Old or New Testament? Or neither?

2. From Leviticus 19:25, the fruit of a newly planted tree must not be eaten until which year? Is it the 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th?

3. What was Bathsheba doing on the roof when David first saw her? Was she bathing, praying, singing or hiding?

4. Samson’s strength was correlated with what part of his body? Was it his heart, chest, hair or legs?

5. Job suffered from what physical affliction? Was it deafness, boils, blindness or coughs?

Everything Everywhere All at Once (R)

Evelyn Quan (Michelle Yeah) meets a version of her husband from an alternate universe who needs her help. As the evil Jobu Tupaki plans to destroy each existing universe one by one, Evelyn learns she has a much bigger purpose than she ever imagined in the fight against Jobu. This visually stunning Golden Globe winner is very worth seeing.

You People (R)

Ezra Cohen (Jonah Hill) accidentally wanders into Amira’s (Lauren London) car, thinking that she’s his Uber driver. The couple hits it off and when Ezra eventually considers proposing to Amira, he meets her parents and discovers that integrating a Jewish and black family won’t be as easy as he thought. This relatable comedy was co-written by Hill and director Kenya Barris. Also stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mike Epps.