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Karen C.L. Anderson

Author of You Are Not Your Mother: Releasing Generational Trauma & Shame and Difficult Mothers, Adult Daughters: A Guide for Separation, Liberation & Inspiration

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what I see

In the movie The Sixth Sense, a young boy named Cole Sear can see and talk to the dead. "I see dead people," he says to the psychologist he sees. Cole says the dead walk around like regular people, but they don't see each other and they don't know they're dead. His gift was distressing to him and he often felt isolated because of it. Cole eventually overcomes his fear of the ghosts that visit him and is able to help them find closure. I see shamed people. I can see and talk to them...they...

If you've been thinking about joining the Shame School Community but are hesitating, I've got you. I will be hanging out on Zoom on Thursday, February 19 at 1 p.m. Eastern and then again on Tuesday February 24 at 4 p.m. Eastern. Come say hello, meet me, and get your questions answered. I would love to get to know you (even if just a little bit :-). Click here to add the February 19 call to your calendar Click here to add the February 24 call to your calendar I don't do pressure. Much, much...

That moment when someone with narcissistic behavior (who has no idea about your mother, your background, or what you do for a living) tries their shit on you and you're like "hold my beer." ~~~ I live in a small, relatively new neighborhood with 14 homes and a Homeowner's Association (HOA), which is required because there are seven acres of common area that need to be maintained according to the town's ordinances. From the get-go there's been ONE neighbor who seems hellbent on making trouble:...

After two-and-half years of no contact, my mother reached out to me via email. I had a feeling I might hear from her after I received a call from an ER nurse in the town where my she lives (300 miles from where I live). My mother doesn't know the nurse called me. At the time, I did nothing, as nothing was being asked of me. In her email to me, she said she wanted to have a conversation about her future plans as she is getting older and asked me to call her, which I did. We had basically the...

Today (January 31) is the last day to save $250 and get a bonus 1:1 session with me when you join the The Shame School Community. The Shame School Community is a 52-week excursion into the heart of shame: what it is, where it comes from, the myths around it, how it impacts us, and how we can transform our relationship to it and live (mostly*) free from it(*I can't promise complete and total freedom, but I can tell you that when when it does show up it won't impact you the same way) The Shame...

You can put it down now.

You don't have to hold a grudge. You don't have to (forever) take her behavior personally. You also don't have to have a reason that makes sense to others in order to establish a boundary (or go no contact). You don't have to ask if you're overreacting. You don't have to wonder if what you're feeling is "normal." You don't have to have proof that her behavior could or should be deemed "rude." You can simply decide that your her behavior doesn't work for you. And sometimes, in order to stop...

I've received a bunch of questions about the Shame School Community and I've got answers :-) Can you share a "sample curriculum?" There will be 52 weekly, bite-sized lessons, practices, tools, activities, writing prompts that fall into four categories: general, creating safety, creating intentional identity, and creating healthy boundaries. Each lesson explores concepts and different ways to put them into practice because not everyone resonates with the same techniques and practices. Each...

If your mother has narcissistic tendencies, you probably experience shame. Here are five things you can do to help yourself: #1 Let her have her alternate reality (and notice what happens inside you when you do). I once had a conversation with my mother in which she recounted a situation that not only do I remember very differently, my husband does too. I felt myself reacting. Anger was rising…defenses were triggered. “She’s gaslighting me!” and underneath that, “She thinks I’m stupid!” and...

I got a lot of responses to "I am not chasing my mother" all basically saying the same thing: "I WISH my mother would just leave me alone...she chases me, not the other way around!" More specifically... What if I am the one who want to move on but my mother doesn’t let me do it? I am divorced and she doesn’t accept it. She is always in the victim role and she keeps saying that she is dreaming of me and my ex-husband remarried. I blocked her so that she cannot text me privately, but she keeps...