Survivor to Thriver Manual Chapter 5 - Stage 2, Step 12, Self-Help

Step Twelve Self-Help

Read any of several available books and articles on shame and its debilitating effects.
Learn to identify the feeling of shame as it occurs in your daily life and write in your journal about situations that trigger shame.
Reach out to others for help in learning to act differently in situations that trigger shame. By assertively affirming your strengths and admitting your weaknesses, you will counteract internal shame and arrest the shaming process in your everyday life. You will also begin to accept yourself, good parts and not-so- good ones, as a valuable person.
Recall the people in your childhood who had something good to say about you. What words did they use to describe your best qualities? How did you feel when you were around them? Revive these important people from your past by writing about them in your journal and exploring what their support meant to you, then and now.
Those of you who are religious or spiritual can turn to your Higher Power to cleanse yourself of the shame and unworthiness that you feel so deeply. Religion and spiritual practice can be tremendous sources of inner sustenance and can provide an ideal vision to replace the negative role models and scenarios of the past.
Share your struggle with working this step at ASCA meetings.