The Crucial Difference Between Guilt and Shame
You probably think you already know the crucial difference between guilt and shame. And you do know one difference. A major difference. Guilt says, “I made a mistake.” Shame says, “I am a mistake.” Shame also says, “I am bad and wrong and don’t deserve to live.” Yeah....
My Teenage Lie and the Truth I Denied
No, I’m not going to talk about lying to myself about my sexuality. Or my gender expression. I’ve covered those before. This lie has to do with something much Bigger. Though, at the time, I thought I was the biggest thing around. My family rarely went to church, so it...
How Do I Move On From Guru Abuse?
Dear Meli, I was in a spiritual community for about 10 years. For a lot of this time, I lived on site with our spiritual leader. I was married when I was in the community, and my husband and I lived there together. And now the tricky part. Our spiritual leader was a...
Necessity Is a Mother
They say that necessity is the mother of invention. But sometimes? Sometimes necessity is a mother. If you know what I mean. And I think you do. Let’s go back to 2012, shall we? 2012 was the last year of the Mayan calendar. A lot of folks thought the world was going...
Help! My Friend’s Partner Is Abusive!
Dear Meli, My best friend has a new partner. At first, I was really happy for her. But the last few times I’ve hung out with both of them, I’m noticing that my friend’s partner is not nice to her. It’s pretty stressful to be around. I...