Shame On The Moon

Not a shame at allMarvelous fine dining establishment in Rancho Mirage for over 20 years. Gay-owned with the cutest servers in the Valley and among the best food. Dinner only; reservations essential; perfection assured.

Shame On The Moon

Last night, while imagining what I would write to you, the idea of shame came up over and over. Not as a feeling but an idea. If Aries is the spark of a child, the irreverence of that child's commitment to play and self-invention, shame is Aries' kryptonite. Shame is a poison offered to the child in the form of moral guidance. Shame demands contrition, the bowing of the head before god. But, what does a child know of bowing? What offering can a child make except from the pureness of their heart? And, who does the child bow before when they repent? It's given, isn't it, that shame entered their body not through a holy spirit but a guardian, a flawed caregiver with fear in their own heart where play once lived.

A ritual is a kind of bowing before god, but it is not made in service to shame. Shame has nothing to offer you, so refuse it, strike the word from your mouth. Practice precision, practice saying, "I am afraid, I am disappointed, I am discouraged." Shame is an abstraction from a long time ago, and it lives within you because you won't learn its real names. Turn everything over. Practice saying, "I am inspired, I am activated, I am in awe." Practice the act of acknowledging the sacred possibility within you. Practice a ritual of recognizing where something like god resides within you, where you have just as much power over what pains you as pain has over you. Not to forget it, but also not to make it the totality of your very self; to see your most difficult moments, your worst selves, as part of you. 041b061a72