Skeletons Out of Your Closet

The New Year is upon us! We have emerged (hopefully in one piece) from our holiday dinner parties and gatherings, and are beginning to write down their desired resolutions. With the hopes of a new annual beginning ahead of us, now is the perfect time to take an honest look at ourselves, perform a moral and practical inventory of where we are, and set our sights high on where we would like to be. When doing this helpful internal inventory, I encourage you not to neglect bringing some attention to secrets and skeletons that you have left in your closet. It’s time to consider cleaning that closet out, because if you do, your spirit will be greatly relieved.

We all have seen secrets and hidden aspects of our life and past. Now I know what it’s like to have drama and secrets in my family. My own mother never knew her own father and was given to adoption early in her life. There’s more to that story, and I tell all about it on my recently released online talk show called Keeping Family Secrets. If you know me, you know that I keep no secrets from my listeners about my life. I encourage you to listen to the show, but in the meantime, let’s talk about the ways that these family secrets affect those who they involve.

Family secrets make people angry and upset and bring significant pain to many. In some secrets, there are infidelity, homosexuality, addiction, longtime regrets from childhood and other controversy. These secrets evoke shame and guilt in the hearts of many families when they are kept hidden.

It doesn’t have to be that way. I urge you to consider sharing your own dark secrets and bringing them into the light. Talking with someone about what you are most ashamed of or hurt by can have incredible healing effects. Whether you join a support group with people of similar concerns, share your story with a close confidant, post on an online confession website, or hire a professional therapist… talking heals many hearts. Clean out your internal closet for a healed spirit and fresh start in 2012!

Listen to my online talk radio for more: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wellnessfortherealworld/2011/12/21/keeping-family-secrets

Guests include Kevin Hansen (bestselling author of Secret Regrets, a compilation of thousands of people’s secrets); activist Petra Hoffman; celebrity psychologist Dr. Nancy Irwin; and family therapist Dr. Lisa Rene Reynolds.