{"id":11384,"date":"2022-09-15T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/is-your-guiltometer-malfunctioning\/"},"modified":"2023-05-18T11:04:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T18:04:50","slug":"is-your-guiltometer-malfunctioning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/is-your-guiltometer-malfunctioning\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your “Guiltometer” Malfunctioning?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erma Bombeck said, \u201cGuilt: The gift that keeps on giving.\u201d Unless you\u2019re a person with high psychopathic tendencies, you know exactly what she\u2019s talking about.<\/p>\n

Thief or Guardian?<\/h3>\n

Guilt is a thief that steals your joy if you\u2019re not careful.<\/p>\n

But it can also be a guardian that protects you from unnecessary hardship and unhappiness.   <\/p>\n

Guilt Defined<\/h3>\n

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, guilt is \u201cfeelings of deserving blame especially for imagined offenses or from a sense of inadequacy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Allowing guilt to prompt us to do the right thing is an excellent use of guilt. Thoughts of not keeping our promises, being dishonest, or not following through can trigger guilty feelings that motivate us into action.<\/p>\n

But guilt can easily be an anchor that holds us back and drags our spirits down.<\/p>\n

Test Your Guilt<\/h3>\n

The next time you notice that you\u2019re feeling guilty about something, evaluate why and ask if it\u2019s \u201cproductive\u201d guilt \u2013 guilt that\u2019s urging you to do the right thing or take action on your dreams and goals – or the kind of guilt that holds you back and keeps you stuck.<\/p>\n

What Will You Do?<\/h3>\n

The big problem with guilt is that it can keep you from doing what you know and feel you should be doing, which we\u2019ve mentioned already. Maybe you\u2019ve reached a point where things are falling into place, and you\u2019re happy with how things are going, but your guilt makes you feel you don\u2019t deserve to be happy.<\/p>\n

In that situation, the guilt you\u2019re feeling will prevent you from committing fully and giving it everything you have.<\/p>\n

Guilt will bleed energy and joy from your life, compromising your determination and sabotaging your efforts because you don\u2019t feel you deserve happiness and success.<\/p>\n

Guilt can become the \u201cperfect\u201d reason that justifies giving up, especially when things get tough because you believe the effort is a waste of time or isn\u2019t worth it in the grand scheme of things. So you take the easy path. You stop resolving conflicts and finding solutions instead of doing whatever it takes to live your life on your terms.<\/p>\n

Onward<\/h3>\n

The next time guilty feelings plague you, take a few minutes to process your guilt<\/a> to see where it\u2019s coming from so you can boost your chances of saving that relationship, achieving your dreams, or creating the life you truly desire for yourself and your loved ones.<\/p>\n

Photo by Eric Ward<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erma Bombeck said, \u201cGuilt: The gift that keeps on giving.\u201d Unless you\u2019re a person with high psychopathic tendencies, you know exactly what she\u2019s talking about. Thief or Guardian? Guilt is a thief that steals your joy if you\u2019re not careful. But it can also be a guardian that protects you from unnecessary hardship and unhappiness. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":11385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1049,175,387],"aware":[1752],"class_list":["post-11384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","tag-emotional-health","tag-guilt","tag-happiness","aware-attitude"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs Your "Guiltometer" Malfunctioning? - Lifestyle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/is-your-guiltometer-malfunctioning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Your "Guiltometer" Malfunctioning? - Lifestyle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Erma Bombeck said, \u201cGuilt: The gift that keeps on giving.\u201d Unless you\u2019re a person with high psychopathic tendencies, you know exactly what she\u2019s talking about. 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