People always talk about how they got hurt, used, abused, and manipulated. Never have I heard anyone say, "I was a villain once to someone." ~ ho.nest.y on Threads This past Sunday I was a villain. Mostly in my head, but a little bit outwardly, too. My husband and I went on a guided tour of the Connecticut College Arboretum, and boy did I have a lot of judgment about this one guy who was there. Y'all should have heard the commentary streaming from my brain! I stood apart from the group, arms...

I read Dear Abby pretty much every day. Sometimes my husband (who reads it before I do) will say, "There's a Dear Abby with your name written all over it" when someone writes in about an issue with a family member (often a mother) and at the end asks: "Should I feel guilty?" Or, "Am I overreacting?" Or, "Is it wrong to feel this way?" In my head I say, "Noooo! Don't outsource your emotions! Not even to Dear Abby! You get to decide...do you want to feel guilty? What if none of your feelings...

No sense shaming the shamer so I corrected this... ...but the sentiment is near and dear to my heart. One of the students in Shame School shared this the other day (and gave me permission to share it): "I'm too happy. I'm too easily excited. This makes me annoying to others. I start comparing how everyone else seems so calm and I'm just too happy, too smiley, too loud - too much (images flash of having my father and stepmother roll their eyes at me)" I, too, was shamed for my happiness,...