Works & Wisdom — Jim Edgett, MBA
Breadcrumbs to Peace
Choosing Authenticity Over Performance
A transformation guide for anyone living from ego instead of peace — in relationships, work, money, and purpose. Built on three years of real-time documentation during systematic psychological abuse. Written during, not after.
About the Author
Jim Edgett, MBA
Jim spent 20 years in Fortune 500 leadership while simultaneously living inside a marriage characterized by systematic psychological abuse and chronic gaslighting. That duality — high-functioning executive, systematically undermined at home — is the case study at the heart of this work.
Beginning in September 2022, Jim documented his experience in real time — three journals, nearly 30,000 words, written during the marriage before he had clinical language for what he was experiencing. That documentation, combined with psychiatric evaluation, therapy records, and clinical notes, forms one of the most thoroughly documented cases of narcissistic abuse in the self-help space.
Clinically Validated
Individual & couples therapy — ongoing documentation
TMS treatment records · Medication management notes
Three physical journals — September 2022 to present
The Book
Breadcrumbs to Peace
A three-part transformation guide teaching readers to recognize when ego — their own or their partner's — is driving outcomes they cannot explain.
Part I
Ego-Driven Living
20,000 words — The Problem
The Inner Child That Isn't There · When Ego Meets Narcissism · Now I Can See · For the Love of It
Part II
The Shift to Peace
45,000 words — The Journey
Secret Wishes · The Doorways · Choosing Peace in Relationships · Work · Money · Purpose
Part III
Living From Peace
20,000 words — The Practice
Daily Peace-Driven Decisions · When Ego Resurfaces · Both/And Integration · The Peaceful Life You're Building
Core Frameworks
Tools for Pattern Recognition
Developed from documented lived experience, informed by Dr. Ramani Durvasula's clinical research, Dr. Daniel Kahneman's work on cognitive asymmetry, and CBT literature on thought restructuring.
Diagnostic
Asymmetric Accountability
In systematically abusive relationships, accountability is fixed — not rotating. Shared successes belong to "we." Individual failures always belong to "you." The diagnostic question is not "am I doing enough?" but "why does my increased effort not change this system?"
"My increased effort isn't fixing this."
Control Pattern
The Authenticity Trap
When being yourself becomes dangerous. Sharing a feeling is treated as an attack. Demonstrating kindness is reframed as manipulation. The pattern: Authenticity → Perceived Threat to False Self → Reframing as Attack → Punishment. Over time this produces a nervous system trained to justify its own existence.
"You use kindness to manipulate me."
Safety Assessment
On/Off Spectrum Determination
Not a clinical diagnosis — a safety assessment. The question is not "is this person bad?" but "is the capacity for empathy and accountability accessible here, or perpetually unreachable?" This single reframe shifts the question from "am I doing enough?" to "is what I need structurally available?"
"Inaccessible = functionally not there."
System Analysis
The Confusion System
Six mechanisms deployed in combination — lying by omission, intermittent reinforcement, preemptive framing, proximity management, narrative rewriting, strategic vagueness — that make self-trust functionally impossible. When these operate simultaneously, the result is not occasional self-doubt but the complete inability to extend oneself basic compassion.
"Documentation is not vilification. It is survival."
The Four-Tradition Integration
Ancient Wisdom. Modern Application.
No other book in this space integrates all four. These are tools for transformation — not market positioning, not spiritual genre.
Buddhist
Right View
Seeing clearly without distortion. Counteracts gaslighting. Observing patterns without judgment clouding perception.
Christian
Faith & Works
Acting from values even when afraid. Counteracts paralysis and control. Faith without works is dead.
Yogic
Inner Engineering
Finding your center when external chaos. Counteracts external validation dependency. Sadhguru's teachings on inner stability.
CBT
Cognitive Restructuring
Restructuring harmful thought patterns. Counteracts internalized abuse. Behavioral activation when stuck.
The Documentation
Written During. Not After.
Most accounts of narcissistic abuse are retrospective. This case study is different. Documentation began in September 2022 — inside the marriage, before clinical language existed for what was being experienced. What follows is a summary of the evidentiary record.
Three Physical Journals
September 2022 – Present · Nearly 30,000 words · Written as survival documents during systematic reality denial — not planned for publication
Psychiatric Evaluation
Salience Health — August 2023 · Referred by spouse claiming delusional disorder · Diagnosis: GAD, environmental origin · Delusional disorder ruled out · Perceptions confirmed accurate
Clinical Therapy Notes
Individual and couples therapy — same therapist · Spanning the marriage and post-divorce recovery · Third-party professional documentation of observed patterns
TMS & Psychiatric Records
36 TMS sessions · Medication management documentation · In-house counselor evaluations · Depression diagnosis records — February 2025
Cardiac Records
February–March 2024 · Stress test, angiogram · Cardiologist documentation · Nitroglycerin prescription · Cleared — 98% heart health confirmed
Legal Documentation
Divorce filed January 2025 · Finalized July 2025 · 21-year marriage · Two sons · Settlement documentation
Market Positioning
How This Work is Complementary
This is not competition. This is an ecosystem for people in various places along the journey.
| Author | What They Provide | What Jim Provides |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical education about narcissistic patterns — naming what happened | Pattern recognition while still inside the fog — the prequel to her work | |
| HOW to let them — mechanics of releasing control | WHEN you need to let them + recognizing YOUR ego patterns that keep you trying | |
| Transformation memoir — fundamentalism to autonomy | Transformation from ego-driven to peace-driven — with frameworks readers can apply | |
| Buddhist psychology — radical acceptance | Buddhist + Christian + Yogic + CBT specifically for choosing peace over ego | |
| Recovery roadmap after identification | Daily pattern recognition during confusion — before identification is possible |
This is "the prequel" — reaching people earlier in their journey
Speaking & Collaboration
Available for Speaking, Podcasts & Video
Jim brings Fortune 500 analytical thinking and documented personal transformation to conversations about ego, authenticity, narcissistic abuse, and choosing peace across all life domains.
Let's Create Together
Available for podcast interviews, video collaboration, corporate wellness keynotes, and co-creation with aligned authors and practitioners in the transformation space.
Get in TouchContact