Break free from the prison of guilt 

Guilt can cause a lot of misery including pain so we need to free ourselves from this useless emotion to move forward in the journey of our lives.

My husband, though usually quite understanding and loving with the children, once hit my son as he had disobeyed him. More than my son, he suffered pangs of guilt for many days after that and could not even sleep. 

The home was full of negativity and low vibes for quite some time. It was then that I felt  that we need to do something about it and so, worked on setting the situation right.

We both then spoke to my son, counselled him on how important discipline was in life. For a while, he remained stubborn and insolent but soon came to understand this important lesson of life.

This then also taught us an important lesson of life on how harmful guilt could be for ourselves and the victim too while love can and does heal.

Punishments. pain and guilt

Though ours may seem like a minor incident, we need to know it could be harmful if made a habit for both the victim and the preparator. Even in studies conducted by the World Health Organisation, it is shown corporal punishment only causes negative behavioural patterns and rarely makes a real difference in the child. Most addictions too begin at that time and become very difficult to set right. This shows that the so-called punishments only make the victim worse than before. As it gets embedded in the psyche, it creates many issues of hatred within and often manifests as hatred towards a community, nation or race. 

So far, we have been talking about the victim here. However, in the journey of life, sometimes the perpetrator is also a victim.According to the renowned healer, late Louise Hay, guilt  causes  self hatred and can be resolved by loving yourself unconditionally. For, is it not a fact that we cannot change the past but can live in the present and thus empower ourselves. She says no matter what the situation, we need to release the past to move on and create a life that we choose and not remain a prisoner of the past.

Loving ourselves

Is it not a fact that resentment and guilt can never make us live a happy life ?  Since we all are connected so both the victim and perpetrator can be healed only with the tonic of love.

Many psychologists maintain that resolving feelings of guilt is often the most difficult thing for them to do, but unless this benchmark is crossed, the patient never becomes better. Guilt is seen as the cause of many mental health issues including depression, stress, anxiety and more.

According to Louise Hay, guilt even causes physical pain and insomnia. Guilt is perhaps the most useless emotion of all as we all can see.

In a  famous Bollywood movie, “Jab we met”, the heroine says in one of the scenes, “I am my favourite”. Through many twists and turns, the movie shows us that ultimately it is this motto that changed her life as well as that of the heroes. The fact is that we need to live in the present with joy, and not bitterness  or guilt of any kind  if we need to lead a holistic, empowered life of unconditional love and joy.

This is possible only if we work on marking love a benchmark of who we are, always. In other words, love is who we are, let us embrace it eternally.