Healing the Shame that Binds You

by John Bradshaw

We cannot heal what we cannot feel.

A witness to violence is a victim of violence.

Having damaged boundaries is like living in a house without locks on the doors.

He said that “intellectualizing about our problems is complex but easy, while doing something about them is simple but difficult.” Shame-based intellectuals love to analyze.

Toxic shame is soul murder. Because of it we become other-ated human doings, without an inner life and without inner peace. Shame-based people long for true inner serenity and peace. The spiritual life is an inner life. It cannot be attained on the outside. The spiritual life is its own reward and seeks nothing beyond itself. Once we achieve inner peace and conscious contact, we want to overflow.