Winter Solstice Postscript

Thank you for reading and supporting TNWWY 🌲🌲🌲❄️❄️❄️

Song for Myself:

A collaboration in voice and love

Words by Kelly Vocals and Music by Wayne

I’d love to hear from you about our first collaboration. If readers enjoy it, we’d like to do more of these!

TNWWY is about how to recover (from anything) and how to align with your true nature.

When I talk about recovery from anything specific (like substances), keep in mind the concept’s transferable to - wait for it - just being human.

Recently, someone asked me if shame is necessary for recovery.

It is not. But it is relevant to any situation in which you struggle to change a destructive pattern.

The querent also wanted to know if we can change out of self-love versus shame.

The problem is that we can’t really drum up self-love (or whatever we think that is) or escape shame cycles when we’re caught in destructive patterns that indicate a lack of self-love. In my latest essay, I attempted to answer that question:

Remember Stuart Smalley on SNL? In “Doggone It” I discuss the role of shame and deconstruct the fallacy of self-love that occurs when we don’t comprehend that the nature of the self is love.

Thanks for sticking with me.

🌻🫶🌻