Shame: a painful emotion caused by a strong sense of guilt, embarrassment, unworthiness, or disgrace

I think of shame as an unclean emotion. It’s laden with ideas of unworthiness and inferiority that are separate from the root emotions. These ideas attached to emotions, make shame extra tricky to sort out.  Pure emotions without the baggage are much easier to deal with, process and integrate. It’s worth thinking about shame and how we experience it.

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So some food for thought about shame:

He mentions and refers you to Brené Brown at the end of the video. Brené Brown does a very good job exploring many of the tricky realms of emotion.

We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.

Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.”  ― Brené Brown

Below are several posts on Beyond Meds that feature her work.

• Why your critics aren’t the ones who count
• We numb vulnerability
• What do we have to be afraid of and who is to blame?
• The Power of Vulnerability
• Shame and empathy
• Shame: a painful emotion caused by a strong sense of guilt, embarrassment, unworthiness, or disgrace
• Shame is an unspoken epidemic, the secret behind many forms of broken behavior