If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.

Shame hates it when we reach out and tell our story. It hates having words wrapped around it- it can't survive being shared. Shame loves secrecy. When we bury our story, the shame metastasizes.

Nothing silences us more effectively than shame.

We live in a world where most people still subscribe to the belief that shame is a good tool for keeping people in line. Not only is this wrong, but it’s dangerous. Shame is highly correlated with addiction, violence, aggression, depression, eating disorders, and bullying.

Shame is the fear of being unworthy, and it adversely affects our relationship with God, ourselves, and others. It greatly hinders our ability to receive God’s unconditional love — and share it with others.

The same goes for us: no emotional vulnerability, no growth.

Shame eats away at the core of who we are.

Shame is the deepest of the “negative emotions,” a feeling we will do almost anything to avoid. Unfortunately, our abiding fear of shame impairs our ability to see reality.

What is shameful cannot be shared. What is shameful, separates.

You cannot shame or belittle people into changing their behaviors.

We can't become what we need to be by remaining what we are.

Shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing we are flawed and therefore unworthy of acceptance and belonging.

People are never able to outperform their self-image.

What makes the grief of shame and jealousy so acute is that vanity cannot aid us in enduring them.