Just because someone isn’t willing or able to love us, it doesn’t mean that we are unlovable. - Brené Brown

When we lose our tolerance for vulnerability, joy becomes foreboding.

In Jungian circles, shame is often referred to as the swampland of the soul. I’m not suggesting that we wade out into the swamp and set up camp. I’ve done that and I can tell you that the swampland of the soul is an important place to visit, but you would not want to live there. What I’m proposing is that we learn how to wade through it. We need to see that standing on the shore and catastrophisizing about what could happen if we talked honestly about our fears is actually more painful than grabbing the hand of a trusted companion and crossing the swamp. And, most important, we need to learn why constantly trying to maintain our footing on the shifting shore as we gaze across to the other side of the swamp — where our worthiness waits for us — is much harder work than trudging across.

If I get to be me, I belong. If I have to be like you, I fit in.