Guilt - 3 Tips on Using Prevention to Overcoming Psychological Effects of Guilt - Tip #3

If you're in a situation that causes you to go deeper into guilt or bring on feelings of guilt, you don't have to stay where you are, you can do something about it. Let's look at Tip #3 on Using Prevention to Overcoming Psychological Effects of Guilt.

Tip #3 - Physically move from the event

Certain situations, activities or company may arouse memory of a past event which in turn brings on the feelings of guilt. Physically remove yourself so you can refocus your mind onto something more positive. No point staying where you are and succumb to guilt. It will continue to consume you and take you further downhill. Find something positive to shift your attention to and bring your emotions on a higher energy vibration.

Let's look at a practical example.

Say you are trying to overcome a smoking habit. You find yourself in the company of other people that are smoking, what do you do? Do you stay and try to be strong? No, this is the time that you walk away so you're not overcome by the desire of wanting to smoke and refocus your mind to reaching your goal.

At this point you're still vulnerable and you need to protect what you've already accomplished - whether it's a day, a week or a month that you've not had a cigarette - so you don't fall back into the habit and find yourself in a situation of feeling guilty for giving in.

Guilt - 3 Tips on Using Prevention to Overcoming Psychological Effects of Guilt - Tip #1

Guilt can affect us on many different levels and areas of our lives. The behaviour of guilt can mentally inhibit us from being free from past mistakes so we're unable to move forward onto living a fully enriched life and achieve our goals. Using prevention as a tool to psychologically overcome the mental effects of guilt can empower you to take control of your mind and disempower guilty feelings.

Tip #1 - Quickly identify situations that contribute to stress or depression

When you are feeling stressed or depressed you are more vulnerable to negative feelings. These feelings open the door for and attract other negatives into your mind. As you develop the habit of quickly identifying situations that contribute to stress or depression, you could prepare yourself mentally to handle these situations differently so that guilt does not creep in and hold you in its clutches.

For example, if you are feeling stressed or depressed about a current situation, memories of things that you had done or neglected to do that contributed to the situation may come rushing in. As you think about what you've done or not done, you may start feeling guilty over the whole thing putting you further into depression.

Look out tomorrow for Tip #2.

4 tips to overcoming psychological effects of guilt

Getting my body back - Day 99

Have you ever felt guilty when you made a decision to achieve a goal and you fell off track? Perhaps you decided to quit smoking, was doing well for some time, then you became stressed out and lit up again. Or you loved the way you felt and looked at 120 lbs and decided to set that as your ideal weight goal but you got depressed and began to eat foods that did not contribute to your success.

As a result of falling off track you felt guilty which led to more stress, more depression which increased the urge to smoke or eat the wrong type of foods that set you back from gaining the results you initially set out to achieve.

Here are some tips to avoid the psychological effects of guilt:

1) Prevention is better than cure.

By identifying situations that contribute to stress or depression, you could prepare yourself mentally to handle these situations differently. When you see these patterns occurring prepare to change your perspective on the situation or physically move from the event. When you have prepared yourself for any encounter you are better capable of handling it more effectively.

2) Quickly bounce back

If you are overcome by stress or depression, recognize the feeling and quickly shift your mental thinking to invite peace of mind to eliminate stress and joy to replace depression. Whenever I feel feelings of depression trying to descend on me like a heavy weight on my shoulders, instead of waiting for it to flood my emotions, I immediately look within to the joy that lies in my inner being. Other times I ask the Spirit to lift me up if I feel I am becoming overwhelmed and unable to bounce back quickly. Know that you have help every step of the way.

3) Encourage yourself

Okay, you know what? I have fallen off track here, but as long as I have life and breath I can get back on track and keep going. I can do this. Being your own cheer leader gives you the extra boost necessary to keep moving forward. I messed up here, but I can learn from this and use it to my advantage. Shifting from guilt to encouragement empowers you to rise up again with renewed strength and vigour.

4) Set new strategies for yourself

Use the feelings of guilt to your advantage. Okay, you fell off track. Use the opportunity to learn about you. Face the guilt, be honest with yourself about the deeper issues you are facing, analyze yourself (What was it that made me do what I did? What other feelings contributed to this?) and rethink your strategy to getting you through to achieving your goal.

These 4 steps are some strategies you can use to help you overcome the psychological effects of guilt.

Fuelling words: I prepare my mind to keep me on track and if I mess up, I quickly bounce back knowing that I can accomplish whatever I set my mind and heart to achieve.

Workout: walking, weight lifting