Do I, in every troubling situation, wonder if and how I might be responsible for it? Or would I rather transfer the guilt onto others?

The feeling of guilt is incredibly intense and heavy, so it’s not surprising that we want to find a way to “get rid of it.” Effects such as sleep or eating disorders, loss of life energy, the desire to punish ourselves, anxiety, depression, the wish to escape from everything, and more, can arise.

The feeling of guilt has its purpose—to guide us toward fulfilling moral or other standards. However, if we develop strong judgment and recognize how to align our actions with our inner compass and standards, guilt can lose a significant portion of its role. Consequently, we can free ourselves from the difficult states that accompany guilt.

In our next workshop, “Guilt Avoiders and Bearers,” we will work on recognizing how we have developed mechanisms for constantly questioning our own guilt or shifting the blame onto others. Sometimes, the cause lies in collective and genetic heritage, and it can also arise in families where parents shifted guilt onto their children. After that, we will work on adopting virtues that can “replace” the need for intense self-blaming or blaming others. By doing so, we overcome the mechanisms of blaming ourselves or others.