Feeling good about ourselves is a choice. So is feeling guilty. When guilt is legitimate, it acts as a warning light, signaling that we're off course. Then its purpose is finished.
Wallowing in guilt allows others to control us. It makes us feel not good enough. It prevents us from setting boundaries and taking other healthy action to care for ourselves.
We may have learned to habitually feel guilty as an instinctive reaction to life. Now we know that we don't have to feel guilty. Even if we've done something that violates a value, extended guilt does not solve the problem; it prolongs the problem. So make an amend. Change a behavior. Then let guilt go.
Today, God, help me to become entirely ready to let go of guilt. Please take it from me, and replace it with self-love.
From The Language of Letting Go
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss
This is such powerful stuff & what recovery & the program is all about for me. Before I came into AA I didn't know how to understand my feelings & hear the messages they gift to me. One of the hardest things for me & what I'm learning to understand is the how & why of violating my own values & those for the better good. When I am uneasy it's because there's something in me I have to be truthful about. What is it that I'm finding disturbing, what do I need to accept &/or what do I need to change. It's all about tuning into this, checking my motives & my needs & making sure I'm taking good care of myself without hurting or at least being to the detriment of other people. Sometimes I can take on too much or forget why I'm abstaining from a behaviour in the first place. When my uneasiness comes I have to pay attention & do whatever I need to accept or Change the situation ~ my part in that situation. An amend either to my situation or in the least, inside myself, is a great tool & the quicker I can accept &/or amend that which is bothering me the better. In this way I don't have to live with prolonged guilt also. I hope I've managed to make sense in my 'eloquent' way! I know how I mean ;) I am responsible & have personal power in this way. What a fantastic post. Thanks, Qx Danielle x
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Progress not perfection.. & Practice makes Progress!
