Shame spirals part 2.....

The vulnerability in receiving

I sent a post on Sunday 24 November all about shame spirals and sliding doors and this post is a follow up to that (both for paid subscribers) so find that to read first so that you have the context for this post.

The shame spiral I experienced recently felt unexpected and surprised me with its veracity. It felt like something big was rearranging in my system and it highlighted something really valuable, which I don’t think we talk about enough.

It alerted me to the inherent vulnerability in receiving.

That might sound really strange. It might not even seem to make sense. Surely we all like to receive? Surely we like to be given to? Isn’t that easy? Actually for many of us this is an extremely unfamiliar position and the vulnerability in happily receiving may, in and of itself, cause us to feel more shame. Particularly if our needs were ignored/not met or shamed in childhood.

Before we get into the vulnerability in receiving let me tell you a bit more about what unfolded that day.