Guilt—one could write books about it and hundreds were. Many people experience guilt—sometimes, often or all the time (I used to belong to the last group). I could easily say that everyone knows this feeling to a different degree. Guilt is a feeling I know very well. Guilt and I used to be “Besties”—as my older daughter would say it—best friends. During some periods in my life or, to be honest, most of my life, I felt guilty all the time.

I felt guilty about something I did and should not do…
I felt guilty about something I did not do and should have done…
I felt guilty that I said too much or…not enough…
I felt guilty for eating, drinking or…for starving myself…
I felt guilty for mistreating my body that way.

Guilt was right next to me when I bought something I thought I did not deserve.
“Save the money for something better instead!” I have heard Guilt whisper into my ear.
I could list many other examples which brought Guilt and myself to be such close friends.

I would like to write of how things have changed for me in recent years, though. For a few years now I have worked hard on accepting what I do and say with love and kindness—without criticism and self-judgment—to help me stop feeling guilty.
It worked!
It really did!

First it was hard for me to even recognize when I felt guilty, to describe the body symptoms which accompanied that emotion. Slowly—taking one moment at a time—I was able to notice when I felt guilty, feel the emotion, be with it and then learn to let it go. The more I did it, the easier it got to let go of the guilt. My good friend, Guilt, soon had to take a back burner as acceptance, self-love, and confidence replaced it.

Many things—situations, events, people—which caused guilt in me in the past, do not affect me this way any more. I understood there was nothing for me to feel guilty about and changed my behavior.
Sometimes, I notice the feeling of tightness in my chest, the faster heartbeat.
“Oh no! Guilt again!” The moment I say those few words aloud to myself…it leaves me.

I would like to say that it is a beautiful feeling to live with understanding and acceptance that whatever I do, say, how I live, and who I am, is just RIGHT!
The freedom I feel and the love I have for myself does not allow guilt to live in my body any longer.