There is a big difference between regretting our mistakes and feeling guilty. Regret is, “I made a mistake. I am going to learn from it. I put the thing down and I go on.” Guilt is, “Oh god! How could I have done that? I am so terrible. I cannot face the world again. This is just awful. It is all my fault.” We can really get into our guilt thing. Who is the star of the show when I am guilty? Me. I am so important, that I am the worst one.

Some years ago, we were talking about our religions of origin, and we were talking about guilt. The Jews got together in one group, the Catholics in one group, the various types of other Christians in one group and then some people who were not raised with one thing or another were in one group. We talked about guilt and who was raised with the most guilt. There were two groups in the final running. Which ones do you think they were? The Jews and the Catholics. Why do we feel this guilt? This is what we were taught as kids. This is what we are supposed to feel, but you can look at it as an adult. That is the nice thing about being an adult. You can look at what you were raised with and see if it makes sense or not and say, “It makes no sense at all to feel guilty.” Guilt does not help the world and guilt does not help me. You are marinated in guilt as a kid. When you look at it, the story of the guilty mind is total rubbish. Sit down and write out what the guilty mind is telling you and ask yourself, “Is that true?”

When we are angry and depressed, we do not ask if it is true, we believe it and then we just get even more stuck in our hole. Really pull out our wisdom and look at it. “This whole situation fell apart because of me.” Is that true or not? It is not. Because situations are dependent on many different factors, not just one factor or on one person.

“365 Gems of Wisdom” e-book is out now!