For many of us the festive season brings with it uncomfortable memories. For me, guilt and regret are the primary feelings I associate with the time. Regret that I don’t have healthy family relationships and guilt that I didn’t do more to make them work. This process usually ends in a detailed examination of my […]

Shame is the root which sabotages our happiness and wellbeing. It lurks in our subconscious where it influences our choices. Shame was the core of my obesity and overcoming this was the key to losing weight. What is “shame”? Shame is more easily understood when contrasted to guilt. Shame is self-focused, whereas guilt is behaviour […]

Many years ago, when I was attending a fundamentalist church, I was told that I had a spirit of self-pity. Church members prayed that I would be delivered of this demon. Looking back, I had a lot of things to deal with at the time. I had just left home, had a new job where […]

Recent events have brought up some old memories for me. My dad was a dominant man. He viewed women as the inferior sex, but he sweet-talked women when he met them. What I have said so far is pretty typical of his generation. It was common that women were considered weaker than men and treated […]

I am a person who focuses on the destination rather than the journey. I find joy in achievement no matter how small. But the path to these achievements has not always been enjoyable to me. My burning desire from childhood was to lose weight. It was all I wanted. I figured that when I got […]

After I had lost weight it was tempting to expect that everyone else had changed with me. Naturally, as I healed and changed, so did my internal filter. I saw my world differently. Much of the shame had gone and I no longer felt like a side-show freak. People stopped staring at me or glancing […]

Listen to the podcast here Jenny Marshall is on a journey of healing. Experience her incredible journey of overcoming morbid obesity. She has lost more than 250 lbs, and though it has not been easy, she shares that the life she now has made it worthwhile. Her evolution is much more than the change in […]

One of the most significant milestones in healing from shame is shifting from judging to understanding yourself. This way of seeing myself defused my shame and freed me from judging others. I learned to stop judging my thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and understand them instead. Here are some examples: Shame Mindset #1: Sleeping in means […]

I grew up in a dysfunctional and abusive family where food was my escape. Even the shortest walk left me breathless, sweaty, and fatigued. Genetics was not on my side, as both my mother and father struggled with obesity and diabetes. Mum used food as a means of emotional comfort, and food was the main […]