In today’s episode, we’re still in the Garden—reflecting on the role shame and blame play after trauma, loss, and other rupture experiences in our lives.

Ask us anything HERE and we may answer your questions in the last episode of this season, airing December 23, 2025!

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

In this episode, we talk about:

* Adam and Eve’s participation in the fall and their immediate response in the aftermath

* Shame: is it ever a helpful emotion?

* Don’t conduct Zoom calls naked

* The necessity of facing our shame in community with others

* Co-regulation 🤝 self-regulation

* Fig leaves = our desperate attempt to avoid the distress of shame, guilt, and blame

Resources and links mentioned:

* Ask us anything HERE for our final episode of the season, airing Dec 23, 2025.

* Definition of shame and moral emotions found in: Piretti et al. (2023). The Neural Signatures of Shame, Embarrassment, and Guilt: A Voxel-Based Meta-Analysis on Functional Neuroimaging Studies

* Fr. Stephen Freeman, Face to Face: Knowing God beyond Our Shame (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2023)

* Eleni’s Substack article, “Winnicott, Eden, and the Relational Ground of Self: A few extra thoughts”

* All music featured on this podcast is used in accordance with Creative Commons licenses. For a full list of the tracks we use, visit https://recreationpodcast.substack.com/p/music-featured-in-our-episodes

Let’s Connect:

More about Nicole:

https://www.nicoleroccas.com

More about Eleni:

https://www.eleniopperwallcounselling.com/

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Disclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional mental health care.

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