Hiding In Plain Sight

“You are not broken. There is nothing wrong with you. We are all innately good. We all have basic goodness inside us.” Venerable Joan Nicell

“Listening to her speak, I straight up cried. Her words struck me like lightning. At the time, the concept of our innate goodness was really far out for me and took me for such a ride. 

For as long as I could remember, I had felt like there was something inherently wrong with me. I had spent so much of my life feeling deficient, innately bad, like I was irreparably broken because of my queerness. I felt like I deserved everything terrible that had happened to me and that I didn’t deserve anything better moving forward.” Sah D’Simone, from Spiritually, We: The Art of Relating and Connecting From the Heart

“Shame is a fundamental mistake in perception. Our fundamental shame is generated by our separation from our basic goodness.

Shame is a perception of ourselves as inadequate and unworthy of love, belonging, and acceptance. Fundamental shame has calcified and become your identity, eroding your sense of self.

Shame’s true message is not that you are unworthy but that you urgently need to discover your basic goodness.

We are afraid to feel shame and our culture encourages us to avoid it through addiction to alcohol, drugs, food, overwork, screens, people pleasing etc. What’s going on underneath? When we never pause, there’s no time to reflect on how we feel and why. 

When we don’t know who we are, we don’t know what we want. When we don’t know what we want, we’re not satisfied with what we have.

The missing piece here is awareness of and connection to our essential goodness. This enables us to be with uncomfortable feelings, to stay present. 

Ignoring our inner voice can lead to small actions that leave an imprint in the mind and encourage greater actions that are out of alignment with our convictions, our integrity, and true connection.

What does it cost you to have a seat at this particular table? A desire to be accepted is natural. Are their values in integrity with what you believe? Are you inspired when you leave or do you feel uncomfortable? Is there any lingering shame or feeling of unworthiness?

We continue to work with Sah D’Simone’s book Spiritually, We. This week in our Sunday free community class, we’ll explore reconnecting with our own basic goodness through aligning our actions with our values and integrity. It is very hard to truly accept others, to believe that others are innately good, if we’re withholding this deep recognition from ourself.

Somatic Inquiry:

My core values are _____________________

I am in alignment with my values in these ways ___________

I am out of alignment with my values in these ways and I hold myself accountable with an open heart, compassion, and trusting my basic goodness

I accept my inner goodness. 

My behavior is not who I am. 

I can return to integrity.

You are welcome to join us Sunday! The link and info is here.