Our need to be "greater than" or "less than" has been a defense against toxic shame. A shameful act was committed upon us. The perpetrator walked away, leaving us with the shame. We absorbed the notion that we are somehow defective. To cover for this we constructed a false self, a masked self. And it is this self that is the overachiever or the dunce, the tramp or the puritan, the powermonger or the pathetic loser. Maureen Brady
Some Similar Quotes
  1. The emotion that can break your heart is sometimes the very one that heals it... - Nicholas Sparks

  2. Hearts are breakable, " Isabelle said. "And I think even when you heal, you're never what you were before". - Cassandra Clare

  3. The soul is healed by being with children. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

  4. To be rejected by someone doesn't mean you should also reject yourself or that you should think of yourself as a lesser person. It doesn't mean that nobody will ever love you anymore. Remember that only ONE person has rejected you at the moment, and... - Jocelyn Soriano

  5. One thing: you have to walk, and create the way by your walking; you will not find a ready-made path. It is not so cheap, to reach to the ultimate realization of truth. You will have to create the path by walking yourself; the path... - Osho

More Quotes By Maureen Brady
  1. Fearing the unknown within myself has kept me crouching in a corner. I look to see who I am and discover much that is worthy.

  2. I create a home that is a safe and nurturing place for me, where I am free to gather myself.

  3. When shame is met with compassion and not received as confirmation of our guilt, we can begin to see how slant a lens it has had us looking through. That awareness lets us step back far enough to see that if we can let it...

  4. For change to occur in us, we must be willing to enter the wilderness of the unknown and to wander in unfamiliar territory, directionless and often in the darkness.... We do not need to keep every little thing under control. In fact, we find ourselves...

  5. I am filled with truth at my center where I once held shame.

Related Topics