I will not hide my shame. All living persons, even animals, carry shame. It is a fundamental human feeling. When I carry shame in secret, it distorts my inner world. It makes me feel as if I have something bad inside of me that I need to keep hidden, something that, if it were known, would make people run away from or reject me. I build up resentment and fear; I even become paranoid imagining that people are saying and thinking things about me. Shame can make me lash out or act out; say and do things in an effort to get rid of the feeling. When I do this I only deepen my shame because only in owning and experiencing the feeling for what it is can I let it go.

I feel and share shame.

We all carry shame, sharing it lightens the load and pulls it out of the secret undercurrents where it might get passed along in silence into the light of day where it can be seen for what it is. The more sinful and guilty a person tends to feel, the less chance there is that he will be a happy, healthy law abiding citizen. He will become a compulsive wrongdoer.
Dr. Albert Ellis