Threefold Cord

    I don’t know about you, but I am often concerned about getting things right, and often find myself thinking about, what other people might think if I make a mistake. A few years ago, I went through a job transition where my entire department was reconfigured and after twelve years of working at this institution, my position was eliminated. I was discussing my feelings about all of this with an insightful friend, and he asked me if this made me feel ashamed. My immediate response was to say, no, but to be honest, at that point I had never really thought much about the topic of shame. Guilt is a feeling we have when we realize we have done something wrong and the feeling is directly connected to our own action. Shame is a more general feeling of failure or unworthiness that we can feel, even if we can’t point to a specific thing we have done wrong. If fact it is possible for someone to experience shame when they are merely the victim and have done nothing wrong personally. Looking b