Guilt is a powerful emotion that can make us do some crazy things when not tempered with forgiveness. I’m sure you can think back to a time when you felt guilty. Back in the day, I was known to binge eat my Halloween candy, a whole container of Double-Stuffed Oreos or Cookie Dough, a pint of ice cream. Anyone else have a guilty food indulgence? We all do it, but how often? When does it happen? What do you say to yourself when you give in? Does it go as far as feeling shameful?

Guilt is defined as a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation. So when we binge on these “guilty pleasures” whether they’re sweets, fried foods, Netflix, etc. we often feel guilt for letting ourselves down, failing ourselves, or even doing ourselves “dirty.” That only perpetuates the emotional turmoil making us want to eat more and the cycle continues.

But what if we could see guilt as an alarm system instead of always being negative? Hmmm . . . interesting thought right? Guilt can bring us to a dark place full of self-sabotaging behaviors, but that’s only true if there are negative intentions behind the guilt. Food doesn’t have a positive or negative intention so why would guilt. You are the only person who can place intentions on anything in life. It’s like when someone says, “Nice hair.” Depending on how you say it, you come across with a completely different intention right? Well, what would happen if when we ate that pint of ice cream, potato chips, candy and french fries and began to feel guilty, we interrupted this pattern? If we could start to think about this as the 1st sign that we are choosing behaviors that are detrimental to who we are and how we want to live our lives we start to become aware of our patterns. In that case feeling a little guilty for eating those foods is actually a good thing. It’s telling you to take a step back and notice what’s going on here. You can begin asking yourself things like “What made me want to eat this way? What made me want to act this way? and Who am I being when I do these things?”

What’s most important here is to just notice and become aware of what’s going on without passing judgement.

1. Keep a Journal
   A journal is great because it takes out all the guess work. You don’t have to keep all the things that have happened, patterns that you are seeing, or any other feelings you felt in your head. Let’s be honest, you have plenty of other things to think about, so this is an opportunity to get them out of your head by writing them down. It also allows you to look back and reflect on what’s happened so far and even be more objective about what you should do about it. The best part is that people who do any kind of program, or who want to go through any kind of transformation tend to get much better and faster results if they keep a journal.

2. Take a Meditation Break
   Ok so meditation is a topic that can feel scary especially depending on what your definition of meditation is. But it doesn’t have to be. Meditation is really a practice of helping the mind to settle so that you can think in a more focused way about things that arise. When you’re going throughout your day, are you able to think about all the things you can do to be a better human? If you do, then you’re amazing!!! But the rest of us, often are so busy that we’re just trying to make it through the day in survival mode if you know what I mean. Taking some time out in a quiet space with some instrumental music of whatever genre you prefer and maybe a grounding scent going in the background while tuning into your breath can really make a huge difference when it comes to settling your thoughts. Ask yourself the questions posed earlier in this blog and sit with your thoughts. See what comes up for you. You might be surprised at what comes to you. Some days it will be easier and other days you may have to work at it a bit more, but keep at it. Just like your muscles, you have to work your meditation muscles to be able to sit for longer periods of time.
   *PRO TIP - You can meditate in all kinds of different ways. Check out my blog post about Meditation and how to make it easy as pie, HERE.

3. Forgiveness
   Life is full of choices. Some are choices that come naturally to us and others take more effort to make, but regardless, they are in our control. When these guilty feelings come up it’s ok to let them come and feel the weight they hold for us. However, wallowing in those feelings doesn’t help us in any way, shape or form. Eventually, we must find a way to forgive ourselves for not being as strong as we wanted to be or giving into temptation anything else that comes up for you. So how do we do that? The first two items on this list are a great start, and then finding gratitude for how far you’ve already come. And if you’re just starting out, take the time to be grateful for your willingness to try. It’s ok to start with the little things because a bunch of little shifts and wins celebrated are how we get to big changes that last.

So I’ll leave you with this . . . Guilt is what you make it. It can be the thing that destroys you, or you can turn it into that alarm that gets you back on track. I’d love to hear, how you think about guilt. Is it good . . . bad? How does it show up in your health journey or in your life?