Sharpening your intuition is the only tool I know of to stop getting manipulated and maneuvered by people.
The tool of intuition is what will allow you to gain back a sense of control over your life.
It will help you trust yourself and understand how to make decisions and choose what’s right for you, without constantly having to take advice from others.
Needless to say, not everyone’s intentions in this world are pure, and not everyone is as kind and benevolent as they try to present themselves to you.
Without the power of discernment and intuition, it’s as if you’re navigating the world in the dark. You have no grip on your immediate environment and reality.
You’re pretty much blind. “A blind man is good as dead” – the Sages of the Mishna used to say.
In this manner, you must sharpen your intuition by constantly becoming more and more reliant on yourself. You need to raise your sensitivity levels towards your environment and make sure that you are reading the situation correctly.
Every time you are in a social situation start building up stories and narratives in your head about certain people, then strike a conversation and see how accurate you are. Feel intuitively what questions they want you to ask them, what aspects of their character they wish to reveal to you, and what they want you to flatter them with.
You will have a sense of this the more you practice.
This is one way to sharpen your intuition in social settings. This can be done with the weather, with places, with food, and so forth.
