There is much that is counterintuitive about shame and recovery work. We learn to avoid certain feelings and behaviors as a way to survive and be effective in our lives. When it comes to shame and recovery work, however, the answer is to fully embrace all of what we feel, think and how we behave; especially that which we want to hide the most. In fully embracing these characteristics of ourselves, we come to know who we really are. Honoring and embracing shame allows us to find deep compassion for our own wounds and teaches us to love fully. As we learn to embrace the darkest parts of ourselves and bring them into the light, our heart opens and we have more mature care and love to offer to others. Here are some tips for embracing shame:

1) Develop a relationship with a Higher Power that loves and accepts you unconditionally. We may need to do some work with our image of God/Goddess/Spirit/Higher Power in order to be certain that our image is pure and not based on parental characteristics or a shaming demeanor learned in childhood.

2) Create circles of support that empower and nourish us in our authenticity. Recovery support circles where we learn new behaviors and can do our grief work are essential in teaching us to fully love ourselves and live life differently.

3) Trauma resolution, grief work and bioenergetic healing is an important piece of embracing our shame and loving ourselves. We are learning how trauma is stored in the body. We need places that understand this and create a container for releasing this trauma from the body.

In allowing ourselves the experience of embracing our shame, sharing our deepest secrets and receiving blessings from others in spite of it all, we heal. In our healing we learn mature self-love, self-forgiveness and self-care. Our compassionate hearts break open and we love more deeply and fully. We become the wounded healers and servants of compassion.

Blessings on your journey,

Sally