JackVance: You are 100% correct about my misassesment.

RevloverX: The hands you are describing with the exception of AK/AQ can be horrid multiway hands. I've noticed that with AJ/AT/KJ/KQ/QJ there is tremendous potential to lose my stack. Two broadway cards can easily be 2pair to a straight (draw) toss in flush chasers and you can see why the hands are high risk. (That's ignoring hands like KQ/KJ/QJ with an A high flop).

I think I've finally pulled out of a $10NL tailspin by really thinking about what I'm doing and what I want to see on the flop. If someone raises (say 4xbb+) and I'm looking at KQ/KJ/QJ/AJ I have no idea what I want to see and I"ll usually fold. I've started tightening up and focusing on playing the few hands I do correctly. Hands like AQ/AJ can be dangerous on A high flops because someone can always have 2pair because they called with Axs or A higher kicker.

As far a c-bets go, try mixing them up, espeically if you are out of position. If you always c-bet then even poor players will pick up on the fact that they don't mean anything and won't respect them. If you check and everyone else checks, that's usually sign that noone else is interested in the pot and a reasonable bet on the turn can take down the pot.