No worries. We come and we go with life’s ebb and flow, but it is good to hear from you.

Guilt is just such an effective tool of control I’m not surprised it has been utilized to such a great extent, and we have such a strong propensity to feel it, that learning to get rid of it is something that we all have difficulty with.

I am SO sorry I have been away for too long. I think this post is really talking to me. I have been away from what I love for too long but I guess I am BACK now.

A great post man. I also agree with you and Steve, there is always a tendency to feel guilty by everyone and as you said, it is something that has been programmed into us right from our childhood.

Guilt is one thing that is difficult to get rid of because we keep seeing so many things as BAD or sinful.

Expect me back soon man

Guilt. One of the most effective and destructive control mechanisms the human race has invented for itself. It starts when we’re infants and our parents keep us from doing something by saying That’s bad! and accompanying it with a loud voice or a swat on the bottom. It continues into school, work, and social situations. Undesired behavior is given a moral connotation.

I don’t doubt that at least part of it comes from religious backgrounds. My background is Southern Baptist. Much the same thing happens there. All the Judaic religions and their offshoots are rooted in the belief in the sinful nature of man and the accompanying belief that life on earth is meant to be hard.

I think most of us experience some variation of what you’re talking about.

Stop wasting time. Do something constructive. What will you get out of it? How is this socially useful?

Strange it is, but much of the personal development sector of the web encourages the instillation of guilt. Maybe not explicitly, but implicitly.

And yes, it is programmed. I know I still experience what you’re talking about. And we pass it on to our children.

It is a habit of thinking, though, a belief like any other that can be changed. It takes time and effort. You’ve seen that, but with time and the effort to change your thinking you can get rid a great deal of the belief, if not all of it.

It’s a lot easier getting to that core place when that core place reaches out and talks to you as it did in this dream of mine. Unfortunately, all too often we say It was only a dream.

Thank you for helping us remember what’s important.

I’ve always wondered where this comes from…
I come from a long line of Scandinavian Lutherans and I wondered if it is the remnant of some old Christian belief system, that life on earth should be a miserable trial of suffering because of original sin, and when I actually begin to enjoy it, I should feel guilt, because it shouldn’t be enjoyable.

Does anyone else encounter this problem? It seems silly, but for me it is very real. It’s programmed into my sub-conscious.