Let Go of Guilt

“Guilt”... Guilt is a common emotion we all have felt at least once in our lives or throughout our whole lives. It is developed from a very young age from hearing, for example (and this is only ONE example), things like: “bad boy” or “dad girl”, “you shouldn't do that”. These words got deep rooted in our minds, simply because we were children, what do you expect?

So, just to have a better understanding of where this guilt comes from. Why in the first place we were called bad? Well, we were children right? And we were new to the world, we were discovering so many things and we were innocent. So, if you put yourself in that situation, don’t you think you would make a mistake? The only way to learn is making mistakes (and what is called “mistake” is just feedback); you were not born knowing everything, and you will never get to know everything; since we are born we are in constant leaning.

Now, the difference between you as an adult making a mistake and a child making a mistake; is that the child is not judging himself for it, he is just experimenting and learning. But then he has the adult to judge him. That judgment that comes from a parent, a teacher or any adult the child is looking up to; becomes his inner judge and grows up judging almost everything he does, especially when he makes a mistake. And now that little child is you as an adult with that voice judging what you do and making you feel guilty for making mistakes; in other words, making you feel guilty for learning… for living…

In the same way, guilt gets in the way of you being happy. As you were told you are bad, then bad people don’t deserve to be happy, don’t deserve unconditional love, don’t deserve good things.

Be aware of how many times you feel guilty in a day or in a week; maybe because you took a day off from work to relax and enjoy your family, or maybe because you are feeling happy just because you are alive. You deserve happiness, you deserve unconditional love; we all do. And it begins by us giving it to ourselves, by us letting go of that judge we grew up with in our own minds.