Hello Dear Reader,
In an upcoming series of posts, I am going to explore the dynamics of the inner monster that seems to doom so many people to suffer lives of loneliness and limitation — Shame.
As we go through these posts, we’ll explore where Shame comes from, what it feels like, how it works, and how to heal and be transformed by it in a “positive” way.
Some of the posts will be experientially-written, poetic, descriptive or metaphoric. Some will be analytical and theoretical. Some will be practical, like a Wikihow article.
My goals/hopes are to touch your heart, sharpen your understanding, and help you build a skillset to heal from shame and free yourself.
There are four “Levels” of skill-building that we will explore:
Level 1: Avalanche — these will be crisis-management tools to help you when you are triggered and lost in “coping” attempts that are ultimately harmful. In other words, how to get through the emergency-moments when your inner shit hits the fan.
Level 2: Grasshopper — this is where we’ll explore laying a foundation of self-grounding and self-stabilizing skills, so that you can build the “house” of your psyche on a bedrock of resilient habits, rather than the sand of others’ approval and acceptance.
Level 3: Three Little Pigs — this is where we’ll learn how to scaffold one’s behaviours into a thriving, healthy overall lifestyle, and explore the whole host of cognitive-behavioural tools that are available to help a person “build” their life into something meaningful and self-aligned.
Level 4: Mr. Miyagi — this is where we’ll explore “advanced practices” that …..ha! I’m going to stop right there. Don’t even worry about this stuff, like not for one second, and allow your inner “shame monster” to trick you into thinking that THIS is where you should start. Forget about being enlightened, or wise, or turning yourself into someone who can guide or coach or heal others. Heck, I’m not ready for that either. I do have some “knowledge”, but let’s move real, real slow here, and stick with what I feel I can authentically talk about from experience. But unpracticed knowledge is not knowledge at all; it’s hubris. So, helping you become enlightened or learn how to heal others? I’m definitely not there. (Yet?) 🙂
Let’s learn, together, to stand up and walk reliably, before we try to dance. But when our metaphoric legs are strong and our balance is stable, then let’s dance!
What a lovely possibility to look forward to.