toxic shame

In truth, all emotions we experience are ultimately signals—responses to stimuli or conditioning we’ve internalized. By questioning whether these emotions truly belong to us (or if they’re introjected, i.e. alien aspects from others that don’t align with our true selves); assessing whether they’re helpful and appropriate to the context we’re experiencing them in; and recognizing them as acceptable parts of ourselves, we increase our agency and autonomy. Moving away from reflexive, automatic beliefs and reactions to our emotions towards more reflective and constructive ways of relating to them can help us engage with them in ways that align with our true selves.