Do you find yourself feeling like you “deserve” the guilt you are harboring inside of you? Are you more accepting of others’ mistakes than you are of your own? Do you feel like you are carrying a tremendous weight around with you because of being consumed by guilt?
Holding on to guilt is never a healthy emotion to carry around and can lead to a great amount of inner turmoil until it is properly released.
Common Causes of Guilt
Guilt comes from feeling like you have done something wrong. In order to break free of the heavy burden guilt carries, you must first pinpoint what it is you feel you’ve done wrong.
* Do you feel like you are not accepted by others?
* Are you responsible for something bad that has happened to someone else or yourself?
* Do you feel the need to do something for someone for all the wrong reasons?
*Did you neglect to say or do something important to someone and now don’t have the chance?
Resolving Guilty Feelings
After determining what the root cause of your guilt is, you can begin to accept and come to terms with the situation. Constantly staying stuck in the detrimental cycle of guilt will not help anyone, especially you.
Use these tips to resolve your guilt:
1.) Move on. You must realize that you cannot change the past you can only change the future. If you have done something wrong do your best to learn from the situation and leave it in the past where it belongs. That is all you can do.
2.) Correct your mistake. If you have done something wrong that can be corrected then fix the problem as soon as possible. Anything other than that is not going to be productive. Feeling guilty serves no purpose if it can’t help you to overcome a problem.
3.) Give yourself a break. Try to adjust your expectations to make them more realistic. It may be a lot easier said than done, but if you’ve done your best and there is nothing left to do, then don’t be so hard on yourself.
4.) Ask a friend. Is there someone you trust that you can talk to about the problem? Sometimes if a friend has been through the same type of situation you can ask them what they did to make it better.
5.) Forgive yourself. No one is perfect and it is perfectly natural for anyone to make a mistake. Consider how you would react to a friend if they made a mistake. Make it a point to be understanding and forgiving towards yourself and you will feel the guilt released.
Choose Not to Feel Guilty
Sometimes the people in your life will try to make you feel guilty for no reason and attempt to bring you down. When you sense this type of behavior make a conscious decision not to allow yourself to feel guilty. Realize that you can choose how to feel and not allow others to force you into feeling guilty.
It is unhealthy both mentally and physically to carry around the burden of guilt. Use these techniques to help you enjoy a guilt free life.
I love to teach simple ways to practice loving yourself and improving your confidence, finances, happiness, success, and overall well-being. Download my free guide 25 Ways to Boost Your Self-Esteem & Build Your Confidence and take advantage of the resources on my site www.RescueYourSelfEsteem.com to start feeling better about yourself.