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

by Curt Thompson

Shame is overtaking me. I then begin to construct a narrative that predicts a bleak and pessimistic future. I am unable to tell the whole story, certainly not one in which I am loved by God unconditionally and life, in the end, will be okay.

Little do we know that this neuropsychological response in the long run only serves to reinforce our proclivity to reactivate the very state we are seeking to escape, not least because we often find ourselves having to cope with this state by ourselves in isolation—a state that decreases the flexibility and resilience of the mind—the very isolation that shame has created in the first place.