This is the second and final excerpt from Barry and Joyce Vissell’s new book, Heartfullness: 52 Ways to Open to More Love, chosen to honor their beloved mentor, Ram Dass, who passed on Dec 22, 2019. This excerpt explores the theme of self-acceptance .

We all have parts of ourselves that we prefer remain hidden. We are all ashamed of certain things we have done or were done to us, or even feelings or thoughts we have had. We imagine that if people knew these things about us, they would not like us. We would be rejected, abandoned, judged or criticized. We think we are safe by keeping this shame hidden, but we are far from safe. Shame, kept hidden, keeps us from our freedom and happiness. The parts of ourselves that we try to hide are the parts that have the most power over us because they control us from our subconscious. Trying to bury our past is thus really rejecting, abandoning, judging and criticizing part of ourselves.