The Potentially Life-Saving Difference Between Guilt and Shame

What’s the difference between “I DID something bad” and “I AM bad?”

Turns out, it’s a huge one.

“I did something bad” describes a behaviour. That’s guilt.

“I am bad” focuses on the self. That’s shame.

The price of not realising the difference between these two concepts – that we sometimes use interchangeably, right? – can be a life of misery.

So, I ask:

What does shame correlate with? What’s the danger here?
What are major shame triggers?
And how we can work on our shame resilience?

I talk about all this in this episode.

Listen to it now and share it with the ones who need it.

As promised, references and recommendations!

• An article – with an interview inside! – on the dangers of our shaming self-talk
• Watch Your Language! series: in it, you’ll find the episode on self-compassion that I mention in this very episode
• Brené Brown’s research
• An interesting summary of guilt and shame by the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioural Medicine