Letting go of shame

Shame is that dark, powerful, feeling that holds us back. Yes, shame can stop us from acting inappropriately. But many of us have learned to attach shame to healthy behaviours that are in our best interest.

In dysfunctional families, shame can be tagged to healthy behaviours such as talking about feelings, making choices, taking care of ourselves, having fun, being successful, or even feeling good about ourselves.

Shame may have been attached to asking for what we want and need, to communicating directly and honestly, and to giving and receiving love.

Sometimes shame disguises itself as fear, rage, indifference, or a need to run and hide. But if it feels dark, and makes us feel bad about being who we are, it's probably shame.

Learn to identify shame. When we recognise it, we can begin to let go of it. We can love and accept ourselves - starting now.

We have a right to be, to be here, to be who we are. And we don't ever have to let shame tell us any differently.

Today, i will attack and conquer the shame in my life.

I don't do shame. Thank God for that. Not sure how i would have survived the past week, if i did. I have let go of all the shame that i used to live with, day in and day out...and now, i just don't behave in a way that i am ashamed of. Problem solved.

Someone who had been reading my blog, emailed me yesterday, and laughed about how i said that i do my best to take my dad's advice and never do or say anything that i would not want on the front page of a newspaper. haha...Who would have thought that i actually WOULD end up there?

I am just glad that i started taking my dad's advice when i did. Better late than never!

It's a sunny, yet windy and cold day outside. I stayed up til midnight last night, catching up on my housework that had suffered all week. Today, i think i will mow the overgrown field that has become my yard. The grass is so long that i am going to struggle to pick up all of Nixon's business....nice one.

Yuck.