The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves

by Curt Thompson

God is at work in our work. Jesus is bringing redemption and healing through vocation. And shame has every intention of disintegrating that endeavor. Where we are willing to do the work of attuning to its presence in order to scorn it, and to bring those parts of our minds and vocations into the light for care, discipline, and encouragement through the joyful, just, and merciful role of leadership, we will find ourselves amazed at what unfolds.

Seasons Weekend.

Discussion Guide Chapter 1: Our Problem with Shame What features of shame (emotional nature, judgment/condemning in tone, hiding, self-reinforcing, isolation/disconnection) feel familiar to you? Can you name some examples of experiences in which you have encountered one or more of those features? What is your immediate response to considering answering question 2? What is your impression of the counterintuitive actions necessary for shame’s healing? Chapter 2: How Shame Targets the Mind Describe your reaction to the working definition of the mind. What parts of it seem novel? What parts are helpful? Which of the nine domains of integration of the mind seem to generate curiosity within you? Which seem to generate discomfort? In what parts of your mind and life do you long to know greater integration as this chapter has described it? How well do you pay attention to what you pay attention to? What challenges does this pose for you? What memories, either implicit or explicit, do you find reflect the experience of shame? In reading this book, what role have you discovered that emotion plays in your life? What do you suspect is the form of attachment you experience with your closest friends? How does it strike you that “your” story is best understood in terms of how it is shared with others? Chapter 3: Joy, Shame and the Brain What is your experience of joy in your daily life? What would it be like to keep a record of the small moments in your day in which joy is present but ou...

1Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society

2Curt Thompson, Anatomy of the Soul