Vote for Happiness

Everybody has done things that they feel guilty about. Big things, small things. It doesn’t really matter what the action was, because a big thing for one person is a small thing for another. The annoying thing is that the guilt stays. Guilt is an emotion that sticks to your heart and takes over your soul and it will paralyze you doing things that really matter.

So, how do you get rid of guilt? First thing would be to remind yourself that you are not the same person as you were whenever the event took place. You had different things going on, waging up against each other and using their force on your decisions. Time makes you forget that and the only thing that stays is guilt. If the same situation occurred today, you would react differently. Not because you learned from it. No. Because you have different things going on now.

The second thing you should do is give yourself a break. (Unless you’re a serial killer or steel from the elderly, than you should turn yourself in.) Give yourself a break. Nobody is perfect. You can only strive to be good and that’s an ongoing process. It’s very hard to be good and patient when you had no sleep and you’re phone is ringing with a debt collector and your child is whining for sweets while you’re in the cue in the supermarket. Believe me, the Dalai Lama does not have those problems, so don’t compare yourself.

The third and last thing to do sounds obvious and I’m not in favor of the word because it gives me visions of evil prisoners begging. It’s forgiveness. Forgive yourself. If you don’t like to use the word either, accept what you did. It’s good enough. Accept that you made a mistake, learn from it, apology’s if possible and get rid of the guilt.