I’ve been having some interesting run-ins with guilt lately. Last week, it was overwhelming in that all I had in my mind was, “you should do this, you should do that.“. I was shoulding all over myself. Where was this coming from? I’m a Recovering perfectionist, so I know guilt, but it was never like this. The guilty thoughts were taking over my life! What to do? I prayed and prayed and let it go. I had to. I came down with terrible food poisoning. Nothing was in my mind but how uncomfortable I was. I’d like to say I “let go and let God”, but it wasn’t like that. I prayed for my mind to be healed of these thoughts which I knew weren’t helping me on my journey. Then, I got sick. After I recovered, I woke up happier than I’d been in a long time. The day went well and the overwhelming shoulds were gone. I am so grateful to God for this healing. I have a feeling there’s more there to explore, but at least I have some peace of mind to continue my journey.
I would suggest, if you’re interested in removing some of the guilt from your life, to remove the word “should” from your vocabulary. When saying it to another, it always produces guilt feelings, if only fleeting. This is not something we want to put on others or ourselves. Listen to your thoughts for a few days and see if you’re “shoulding” on yourself. Then, change those sentences to remove the word should, like “ I want to clean the bathroom “ or “I will clean the bathroom” instead of “ I should clean the bathroom.“. Put these new thoughts in your mind by saying the new sentence out loud. Say a prayer too. I hear that works. 😉
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