If you were fortunate enough to be raised in a loving environment as a child, where messages of how precious, special and worthy of love you are were sewn into your Spirit, consider yourself blessed.
For those of us who received less than ideal early, childhood messaging, toxic ones such as ‘You’re unwanted, not lovable, unworthy of being seen and/or heard, don’t matter, you’re a burden....etc. etc....this is for you.

As children we came into this world fresh, full of innate love, light, wonder and innocence.
Like sponges we absorbed our early childhood experiences and the messaging we received about who we are. Those messages became deeply embedded within the marrow of our heart, mind, body and soul and still inform how we move in the world today.

Depending on the severity of those early, toxic messages and also whether it was coupled with experiences of abuse and/or neglect, it can take a lifetime to heal, rewire and release them. Our child-hood experiences set the stage for how we feel about ourselves and subsequently move in life and in our relationships with others.

As you take steps in your healing process to replace those unhealthy, limiting, old messages with ones which more accurately tell the truth of who you are, ones which nurture and support your Being, old, damaging tapes may unexpectedly rear their ugly heads again.

Someone may trigger you or remind you of your primary caregiver/s and bring to the surface very familiar feelings of not being good enough, un-loveable...or any other toxic messages you imbibed
as a child.

Breathe.....

And then turn your attention inward and acknowledge all of the things you love about yourself.

Your mind may object by pointing out aspects of yourself that are still a work in progress by saying “Yeah but you haven’t changed this or that or you’re still having a problem with this..”

Simply thank it for its input, acknowledge the truth that those are still areas on which you’re working (so no denial or by-passing what’s still need of healing within you) and then SWIFTLY return to relishing all that is wonderful about yourself.

In those moments what’s needed is loving kindness and self- compassion, not self- judgement and self-criticism.

Keep it real, honest and genuine. Acknowledge and validate all that is to be celebrated about yourself.

It doesn’t have to be some monumental feat that you’ve accomplished, (although that is most certainly allowed as well :-) ), but it can be something as simple and special as loving the sound of your deep, belly laugh or the way you can bake a sweet potato pie that will make someone wanna slap their Mama” :-)!

The point is you must love your inner child now.

You can give him or her the love and nurturing they should have received but unfortunately did not when you were young.

Gradually these new messages of authentic Self-love will begin to flourish within you and cleanse out any residual, harmful messages which are poisonous to your Being.

It may seem as if you will never come to a place of real Self-love, but I promise you as long as you do the work to heal the wounding of your inner child, you most certainly will!

Don’t give up!

And if no-one has told you today that you are loved, know that I see you and even if we’ve never personally met, I’m holding space for yours and my inner child and the precious, adult Being we are today.

This past week I’ve been percolating and contemplating the origin of shame. It’s a universal experience we’ve all had at various times in our lives, but what is the root cause of it and what purpose, if any, does it serve.

I am particularly curious about it’s correlation to childhood trauma and the far reaching impact it has throughout the lifespan long after the initial, traumatic experience of childhood abuse has occurred.

Many of us who are survivors of childhood abuse and neglect have had to travel the arduous road of releasing guilt and self-blame for the abuse we suffered. However, the tentacles of shame are often the last of trauma's impact to loosen its’ poisonous grip on our lives.

Why is that ?

In asking this question I had to revisit some of the dark memories of the trauma I experienced as a child. When you are a victim of physical and especially sexual abuse, a message which says, ‘You’re bad, dirty, wrong, worthless’, is seared within your psyche and soul. And depending on your age at the time, and where you are developmentally, there is oftentimes an inability to process and make meaning of what is happening to you.

Being beaten with ironing chords, shoes, belts and whatever-else the abuser can get their hands on, especially when done in rage, communicates the message to you that not only are you Bad, but you are not wanted, you’re hated and worthless. You become a thing, less than human and certainly not loved. It is within this environmental soil that the energy of shame takes root and begins to proliferate within the psychological, emotional and spiritual marrow of an abused child.

They erroneously believe they are inherently flawed and lacking in some way. Why else would my Mother/father, auntie, uncle, cousin, Grandmother/father (because unfortunately, the abuser is more often than not a close family member or someone we know) treat me this way ? I must be the the problem. Something must be wrong with ‘Me’ becomes a core, unhealthy belief that takes up residence within you. Thus, shame takes over and transposes the actions of the abuser, along with the responsibility for the abuse, onto the abused child.

This is also the case in situations of sexual abuse, and emotional/verbal abuse and neglect. The origin of shame is the same.

When considering the purpose shame serves, I truly feel it is a catalyst for healing. It propels us into asking vitally important questions about who we are, our inherent worthiness and love-ability. It serves as the impetus to heal from the childhood trauma we endured.

But, once it’s purpose has been served, we must release it!

Shame becomes an insidious toxin that creeps into the crevices of every corner of our lives when we continue to live as if the messages we received as abused children are true.

Healing in earnest entails feeling the pain of the abuse and wounding that incurred as a result of it, and allowing that pain to be released and transformed into self love. The end result is the Full knowing and integration that not only were we not to blame for the abuse we suffered, but there is absolutely nothing wrong, bad, flawed, or shameful about us. It is then that shame dissipates like a vapor and we are left standing in the truth and beauty of who we really are.

<3