It is easy to read posts about shame and think “Oh, I don’t feel any shame, that’s not in my life”. If that is the case, you are an incredibly rare individual. For most people, shame is part of life. …
Tag: Healing
How To Heal Shame
Shame is a painful emotion that is created because of a sense of failure to meet a certain standard. Shame says that we are flawed and unworthy of connection. In response to shame people will isolate themselves or numb their …
How to Work with Shame
Nathanson (1992) presents a fabulous tool to show us how shame shows up. When we look at the middle axis of withdrawal and avoidance, we see two different behaviours. With withdrawal, there is hiding and disconnection. We know from research …
Shame Is The Fear Of Disconnection
Shame is a painful emotion that is created because of a sense of failure to meet a certain standard. It sounds like: “I’m a failure, I’m a terrible person, I’m useless”. They are absolute statements about the self that make …
Words Used To Shame And Prevent Assertiveness
A sure way to stop people being assertive is to shame them. As Brene Brown talks about so wonderfully in her book ‘Daring Greatly’, shame is pervasive in our culture. It limits innovation, true self-expression and stops us taking risks. …
Helpful Assertive Communication Examples
Sometimes finding the right words is tricky. I hope these slides will give you a feel for what an assertive conversation might sound like. A wonderful resource in the area of communication is Marshall Rosenberg’s ‘Non-Violent Communication’. I bought a …
Despair Is Part Of Our Humanity
Irvin Yalom is a master of existential psychotherapy. I have always been drawn to philosophy and studied it as one of only three subjects in high school. I was totally intrigued by the deep and meaningful questions. Why was I …
What Can I Do About MY Passive Aggressive Behaviour?
Most passive aggressive people have usually learnt this form of communication / behaviour from their parents, or a parent. I find one of the major reasons for passive aggressive behaviour is essentially conflict avoidance. The thought of getting into a …
How To Cope With Passive Aggressive People
Let’s not beat around the bush…dealing with passive aggressive people can be REALLY tricky. I know because I grew up with some and I have been one at different times in my life. When someone is being passive aggressive, they …
How To Recognise Passive-Aggressive Behaviour
A lot of passive aggressive communication comes from a difficulty with communicating assertively. It can be difficult for passive aggressive people to communicate things they think might be received negatively. They might find it difficult to: say ‘no’ put boundaries …