Fellow Houston blogger Stacey at Tree, Root & Twig do a post about No More Room for Shame, and it reminded me that I never wrote a proper review of the Ordinary Courage online course that I participated in during the month of October. Brene is doing some incredible research into shame resilience. Now, we generally don’t think about shame much and we certainly don’t talk about it. I really enjoyed exploring what is shame (how it is different than guilt), understanding what events or circumstances can trigger my shame, how I can develop a resilience to being impacted by shame and how to reach out others in ways that nurture them instead of shaming them.
The basis for the course were a pair of her books: I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power and The Gifts of Imperfection:Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. We’d receive (mostly) daily emails with some thoughts and an assignment about what to read. Some days would include a podcast to listen to or an activity to journal about. I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t really care for the format/organization of the course, but the topics and information were fantastic.
To move away from shame & how it can keep you stuck in the bottom of a hole, she offers some great insights on worthiness. Her insights on authenticity really have inspired me to do more soul-searching so that I spend more of my time on the things that brought me great joy. She offers courage, compassion and connection as the path to living a more whole-hearted living. It’s a slow process, more like a journey, to reach the place where I can let go of unrealistic expectations and accept that I am worthy. This was not a topic I’d ever studied or spent anytime thinking about in my own life, so I found it incredibly engrossing & so applicable to my life. Between this course/books and the Pathfinder course, I really feel like doors and avenues have been opened for me to spend time soul searching, growing emotionally and to develop a more fulfilling life.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Wine day in Mendoza- we are off to check out 4 wineries.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the e-course! I’d definitely be interested in checking out something from her in the future.
Stacey @ Tree, Root, and Twig recently posted..When You Move Away, Far Away
You are very welcome- the topics was so fascinating to me and I really learned a great deal.