Facing a Monster: Guilt

This week was a delightful week for me. My birthday falls the day before Halloween and my family and friends made sure I celebrated in style -- I was showered with flowers, cards, good food and some special clown plates and cups for the party that my 2- and 4-year old girls threw for me.

Another exciting part of this week has been the progress I've made towards publishing my first book: Transformation: Journey to Awaken Your Authentic Self. The book cover is being designed by a wonderful woman in Germany named Llana! She has a beautiful website if you are interested in seeing some of her work: http://www.llananeal.com/ . (I'll keep you posted once we determine a publishing date!)

On Halloween my girls transformed into kitty cats and meowed their way to bags full of candy. This was their first "real" trick-or-treat experience. Skye, my 2-year old, would say after each door we went to: "Another one door!" In other words, "let's rush to the next door and get some more candy, Mom!" Watching my kids have fun like this filled me with wonderful energy and brought back some funny childhood memories.

While some monsters only show their face during Halloween, there are some monsters that stick around all year long. One such monster is GUILT. I was reminded of the power of guilt this week as I had sessions with my life-coaching clients. One of my clients was on the verge of making a major decision and the driving force behind the decision was guilt. She felt guilt on many different levels and because this monster was so strong, it was overpowering the voice of self-love that was whispering to her.

The wonderful thing is that she is growing aware of the guilt. Awareness of guilty thoughts is the first step towards becoming free of this monster. By understanding guilt and knowing it is there, we can then determine if we are going to allow this monster to bully us anymore. Guilt drains our joy. Guilt causes us to focus our energy on doing things we often do not want or need to do. Guilt causes us to feel obligation. Guilt blinds us to joy. Guilt brings us suffering.

I challenge you this week to observe your mind and take note of all the times you feel guilt. Write these thoughts down on paper and look at them closely. Keep tally of how often this monster approaches you. You may be surprised to see how often this monster appears in your life.

Question these thoughts of guilt. Ask yourself: What would my life be like if I acted out of self-love and joy rather than out of guilt? Would I continue to do the things I do each day? Or, would I use my energy on other activities? What emotions do I feel when I focus on guilty thoughts? How would I feel inside if I chose not to feel guilty?

These are some powerful, transformational questions to consider. It's better to face a monster head on than to allow it to continue to haunt you!

May you have a blessed, guilt-free week ahead!

A big thanks to all who made my birthday so special,

Trish