Sublime

The prosocial shame cycle goes like this: Overconsumption leads to shame, which demands radical honesty and leads not to shunning, as we saw with destructive shame, but to acceptance and empathy, coupled with a set of required actions to make amends. The result is increased belonging and decreased consumption.

Shame is the sense that our secrets make us unworthy of human connection. It’s why, when we’re vulnerable, it doesn’t just feel like our secrets are at stake, but our entire being.

Unlike other emotions, shame also has no physical release.

We also do not use euphemistic words like big boned or voluptuous, for they imply that we shouldn’t say the word fat because it is considered a “bad” word. The Body Positive is part of the size pride movement that is reclaiming the word fat as a neutral descriptor of a person’s body type.