September 3, 2025 • 37 mins
Guilt can be a healthy nudge to make things right—but misplaced guilt is a heavy weight we were never meant to carry. In this episode, we’ll explore where it comes from, why it holds us back, and how to finally let it go.
Guided Imagery to release misplaced guilt
As The Psychic Cowgirl, an Energy Healing Practitioner, a Certified Hypnotherapist and an Ordained Metaphysical Minister, I combine my ability to read your energy with spiritual guidance, intuitive insights, and practical tools to support your healing, well-being, and personal growth.
Psychic Cowgirl
Guided Imagery to release misplaced guilt
As The Psychic Cowgirl, an Energy Healing Practitioner, a Certified Hypnotherapist and an Ordained Metaphysical Minister, I combine my ability to read your energy with spiritual guidance, intuitive insights, and practical tools to support your healing, well-being, and personal growth.
Psychic Cowgirl
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, welcome to the podcast.
(00:07):
It is September already. Wow.
Time seems to be going fairly quickly.
I have a good cow story for you.
So when I went to work yesterday,
I'm driving along past my pasture and I'm like, hey.
(00:28):
It looks like my little bull, Marcello is in with the cows and he is not supposed to be.
We pulled our bulls about a week ago so that we could give our cows a different pasture.
Because if we left the bulls in, they sometimes think they need to go help the neighbor's cows get pregnant.
Yeah, not okay.
(00:51):
So we had our bulls in a different pasture.
And yeah, that apparently that didn't stay that way.
So when I got home after work, I went for a walk down the fence that was no longer existing.
(01:14):
Where little buddy Marcello got out. He's very proud of himself too.
The other two bulls were still in, not sure why.
So we go check on them because my highland bull he's kind of done.
He likes to hang out in this swampy area that's got lots of great grass and he has access to water.
(01:36):
And he doesn't come up and visit like the other two were.
So we had to go check on him.
And then my big black one, he was there.
He was not happy. He thought he should be in with the cows too.
Luckily my neighbors moved their cows so we could let them in.
So my husband and I go check them.
(01:57):
My husband goes to check the highland bull and he got yelled at.
Shanks got all huffy, puffy and growled and looked quite ferocious.
I'm like, huh.
I wouldn't enjoy that actually.
Not really.
There was enough trees and logs that my husband was safe, but you know.
(02:21):
A little aggressive there Shanksies buddy.
And then the other bull I was in between them and the other bull.
Heart of joy. He decides that he may need to join in and starts growling and stomping.
So I got out of there.
I was like, nope, not it. Not playing this game.
(02:43):
I'm going where there's more trees in case things go awry.
They are bulls after all.
Not doing it.
My husband did laugh at me.
Whatever.
So anyway, Shanks was fine.
All is good
And then a little bit later I look out and the Heart of Joy bull is by a gate.
(03:06):
He really wanted to be let in with the cow herd.
So I went up there and had a little chat with him.
And when there was enough cows gone, not harassing him.
I opened the gate and let him out and he was very happy with me.
And then this morning I saw that Shanks the Highland had come up by the cows
(03:27):
I wonder if he wants in with the cows.
I wonder if I'm going to get yelled at and have hurt feelings.
I guess we'll see.
So I go up there.
He's in the corral by the water.
And he comes over to the fence to get good boy scratches. Yay! not grouchy with me.
(03:49):
I felt like a winner.
So I shut the gate to the one pasture and I opened the other gate where he could join all the ladies.
And he was not interested.
In fact, I got yelled at for doing that.
And I had to change my plan.
(04:11):
Shut the gate to the cows.
Go open his gate to go back to his swamp pasture.
And he did yell at me for that.
And then he came up for good boy scratches.
I'm like, OK, well.
Shanks is done.
He did his job.
He's done.
(04:33):
He just wants to go have some.
Shanks time in the corner.
In the pasture by himself.
In fact, right now he's up on top of a small hill.
He sees all the rest of the cows, but he is 100% not interested in joining them.
No, he's done.
(04:55):
So of course, I did tell my husband that I didn't get yelled at like he did because it makes my day.
Right?
To be fair, if I got yelled at the way Brent did, I would.
Yeah, I would not be OK.
I would have very hurt feelings.
The rest of the cows are doing great.
(05:18):
They're all sassy when I go to do my horse chores because my emotional eater horse who needs his special ration in the mornings with the adrenal medicine.
I have like three or four cows now that come up to see if they could help or perhaps get a treat.
Never gets old.
It is so delightful.
(05:40):
Eddie, the great big huge steer.
He often stomps over some of the new heifers that were named by all the young men from the university who came to help this summer.
They come over and visit.
They're all very happy.
We have a mutual admiration society.
Yeah.
And again, I'm very happy that Shanks didn't yell at me the way he yelled at my husband.
(06:05):
Yeah, so good.
My horse just went out and they're all feeling great.
My emotional eaters not had any problems.
He runs away, which anytime I'm seeing him run, it makes my heart happy.
That means I can ride him anytime I want.
Perfect.
He's healthy.
Yeah.
(06:26):
It's kind of our main job, right?
Keeping everybody healthy and happy.
So my topic today is on guilt.
Because we have a lot of it, don't we?
So the guided imagery is releasing, misplaced guilt.
Guilt has a purpose.
(06:48):
We need guilt to make sure we don't do things that are harmful to somebody else.
So we need that energy, but what we don't need is guilt that is misplaced and not healthy or useful.
So healthy guilt is a normal.
(07:11):
Temporary.
It's a situation specific that stands from a genuine mistake.
And it can motivate you to make amends.
It can motivate you to improve your behavior.
It's a good thing because it helps you understand yourself.
(07:32):
And you are guided to do an action to make amends for whatever you did that's causing the guilt, right?
And the other part of that is misplaced guilt or unhealthy guilt is excessive.
It's persistent.
And it's not tied to any real wrongdoing.
(07:55):
But we kind of create it.
We criticize ourselves.
We can take responsibility for things that we don't really need to.
That's beyond our control and feel guilty when it doesn't work a certain way.
Misplaced guilt.
(08:16):
Messes with our minds.
And it's harmful.
And it often makes us feel overwhelmed.
And can prevent us from moving forward.
And it's kind of simmers in there.
And it sucks.
(08:38):
And we need to be able to release the misplaced guilt because it's not serving a purpose for us.
It's actually sabotaging us.
And we are doing it to ourselves.
Somebody could give us a guilt trip, right?
But if we believe it.
It's us that's doing it to ourselves.
(08:59):
We have the choice whether to believe that it's true or not to believe that it's true.
Does that make sense?
And so misplaced guilt can really get you stuck in a spiral.
How do you differentiate between healthy guilt, that yes, I did that?
I need to make amends.
(09:20):
I need to apologize.
Yikes shouldn't done that.
Or compared to misplaced guilt.
So to differentiate, you can ask yourself, did I actually do something wrong?
Or did I actually cause somebody harm?
Is it from a real event, a real situation?
(09:45):
Or is it from like a sense of obligation that isn't yours?
Or is it stemming from a fear of something?
Look for patterns.
Does the guilt fade once you've acted to make amends?
Making amends is huge.
(10:06):
A really great apology.
An acknowledgement of what you did wrong and how you hurt or harm somebody.
That's an amends.
So does the guilt fade once you've done an amends?
Or does it persist and lead to ongoing negative self-talk?
(10:31):
Guilt's kind of a big one.
It's a heavy energy.
So what do you do?
Again, like I just said, for healthy guilt, make amends.
Apology and action really make it known that you acknowledge what you've done or what happened.
(10:54):
And you want to make it right.
For misplaced guilt, practice self-compassion.
Forgive yourself.
Do this guided imagery that we're doing to release it.
And really take a look at the situation.
And consider that others may not be your responsibility.
(11:19):
If it's excessive or tied to past trauma, you know, you can get help with this.
To let go of that burden.
Again, guilt is healthy.
I'm part of our life because we sometimes make choices.
(11:42):
We sometimes have consequences.
And so you make amends.
You make it right.
You apologize.
You acknowledge it.
Misplaced guilt is the one that's sabotaging where you are taking on a responsibility that's not yours.
That you can't even do.
And so you feel guilty about it.
(12:06):
Look at the situations and figure out healthy guilt, misplaced guilt, and what can you like go of.
Not always easy.
For sure.
And again, we are so hard on ourselves that we can mind mess and take on thoughts and patterns and beliefs that just aren't useful.
(12:35):
Sounds simple, but we all know it's not right.
And guilt isn't appropriate response when there's been harm and wrongdoing.
And you know it, right?
You know, when you make that choice, and then you have to process the guilt.
And then if you decide if you want to make amends or if you're like, no, I'm okay.
(13:02):
And then you have to process that guilt.
I meant to do that.
For whatever reason.
And like my caution to you is don't get all caught up in it.
Stuff happens.
And.
Yes, we can feel guilty.
(13:25):
And yes, we have to process that energy.
And then yes, we have to decide if we need to make amends with someone.
That was the jerk thing to do.
I'm really sorry.
Especially when it involves alcohol, right?
Things that seem like a good idea.
Yeah.
And then it's not.
(13:46):
And then you feel that next morning guilt.
And then you make amends where you can.
Or the best feeling is when you go and talk to your friends and nobody's mad at you for anything.
Or they're just teasing you about what you did, but nobody's mad and you don't have to make an amends because you're not entirely sure.
(14:07):
Right.
That's an extreme example of guilt, but.
We all know about it.
Don't wait.
And so that's healthy guilt.
Right.
The misplaced guilt would be, you know.
Not talking to anybody because you feel terrible about what did or didn't happen and isolating yourself and being super hard on yourself or what happened.
(14:33):
That would be misplaced guilt.
Especially if you keep ruminating on it and can't let it go become a little obsessive about it.
And misplaced guilt can also cause us to feel what we're feeling and we feel guilty and maybe we did something to somebody.
(14:56):
But then we make them the villain.
Because we don't like feeling guilty.
And so we make them the villain so that we can convince ourselves they deserved it.
Now I know you all know what I'm talking about because we've all done it.
That we need to process work through and perhaps figure out a different way.
(15:21):
Unless you never want a relationship with them again.
Then that is what it is, right?
Then perhaps whatever happened had to happen so that you could let that go.
We are very complicated.
Nothing is simple.
ok back to guilt.
Healthy guilt.
It's a situation.
(15:44):
Something's happened.
You did and then you feel remorse.
You make amends.
You apologize.
I also want to say the guilt is different than shame.
Guilt is about behavior.
You did something.
The shame is about yourself.
So guilt would be I did something.
(16:06):
I shouldn't have.
I did something bad.
I did something inappropriate.
Shame would be I am bad.
I am inappropriate.
I'm not good enough.
And shame is destructive.
But we want to make sure that we're knowing the difference between guilt and shame.
Guilt is about behavior.
(16:28):
Shame is about how we feel about ourselves.
And it's it's painful.
And we can do something that makes us feel guilty and we can also feel shame.
But we have to realize or recognize that feeling guilty about something is.
(16:52):
There was an action that you did so you can do another action to make amends.
Shame you got to work through.
And you're doing it to yourself.
And these are very, very, very messy energies.
Working on guilt and shame was one of my big goals when I went on my laughter yoga journey.
(17:18):
Because I wanted a way to release the energies.
And between guided imagery tapping and laughter yoga, it does work to do that to help us process and work through.
And we need our tools, right?
And again, I'm going to remind you guilt is about what you did.
(17:39):
Feeling bad about a specific action or failure to act.
Well shame is about who you are.
A deep felt belief that you are fundamentally flawed or bad as a person.
So we're going to do a guided imagery about shame next week for sure.
But we're going to work on guilt first. Remember guilt about the action and misplaced guilt.
(18:02):
You know, that could be also described as shame.
Oh, I'm going to look into that.
I just checked into that.
And shame is not misplaced guilt.
They are very distinct emotions with different sources.
So they can be confused, which happens all the time.
(18:24):
Again, guilt is about an action you've done wrong.
Well shame is the feeling about your character as a whole, believing you're not a good person.
Guilt is an internal moral compass, response to a specific behavior.
Shame involves a painful feeling of being fundamentally flawed and unworthy.
So you can see why these are big emotions and we want to have ways to deal with them, process them and release them.
(18:50):
And we're starting with guilt, like I said.
Perhaps we need to be more like my little bull.
He has no guilt or shame of breaking the fence and joining the ladies.
He doesn't feel like he has to make amends.
Just what he wanted to do.
More instinctual. You didn't harm anybody.
(19:14):
All right. So let's go ahead and do our guided imagery.
And we are going to release that guilt.
And so during this, I'm going to invite you to come up with an image.
Just let it flow. Don't overthink. Don't second guess yourself.
Just follow the guided imagery and let whatever happen happen.
(19:37):
And don't forget to get to come back to it anytime you want when the energies get to be too much.
And you need to release that misplaced guilt.
All right.
Coming to settle.
And be at ease.
I invite you to take three big deep breaths.
(20:04):
Three big deep breaths.
And I'm one of those breaths allowing eyes to close in their own tiny.
And then the eyes.
(20:29):
Begin to visualize or imagine a wave of comfort starting at the tips of your toes.
Moving all the way up to the top of your head. And back down again to the tips of your toes.
Breathing in. This wave of comfort.
(20:54):
Again, most from the tips of toes. All the way up to the top of head.
And on your exhale, it moves all the way back down to the tips of your toes.
It's breathing in.
Yeah, breathing out allowing this wave of comfort to do its magic.
(21:20):
Giving yourself this gift of breathing and being.
Being and breathing.
Each time the wave of comfort moves up the body and back down again.
The vibration from the wave becomes stronger and stronger, sending deeper and deeper comfort.
(21:41):
And again, breathing in.
From the tips of the toes.
All the way up to the top of your head.
And back down again on your exhale.
Moving even deeper and deeper into comfort.
Allowing this wave of comfort to cycle around for a few more moments.
(22:07):
Until you feel completely at ease.
Being and breathing.
Breathing and being.
Allowing the wave of comfort.
(22:28):
It's nice.
And now this wave of comfort continues to work positively, comfortably, even when we count backwards now from 5 to 0.
(22:50):
And now 5, 4, 3, 2, becoming even more comfortable now.
1, 0, deeply, deeply, deeply relaxed.
(23:12):
If to open the door of imagination to an image that stands there representing guilt.
Bring forth an image that represents guilt.
Don't overthink.
(23:33):
Just let it flow.
And wonder what might perhaps begin to take place.
To discover about this image could be valuable and interesting.
Coming to know when it is true and when it is misplaced.
(24:00):
Perhaps that could be important.
If there were an image that would be standing there for guilt.
Wonder what it would be like.
Who suppose about it all?
(24:21):
When sensory awareness is high.
Like now, while you're in this comfort state, feeling safe, feeling secure.
What's the first thing about this image of guilt?
(24:43):
Notice what you notice.
How does it feel to be with it?
Feel what you feel.
What might be said to it?
(25:14):
How might it respond back?
Hear what you hear.
See what you see.
Feel what you feel.
Hear what you hear.
(25:35):
And know what you know.
Well, in this energy of this image of guilt.
I now invite you to find out more about it.
Trade places with it for a few moments.
(25:57):
What is it view the world?
What does it feel like emotionally to be the image of guilt?
(26:19):
Trading back, becoming yourself again.
Now, what is understood about this image?
(26:47):
Anything more that seems important to find out about it?
Then, when ready?
Release this image of guilt.
(27:11):
Release misplaced guilt.
How could that happen?
Let the imagination run with it.
Perhaps, to toss it out into the deep dark blue of the universe.
(27:32):
Moving misplaced guilt out into somewhere, never been before to never come back.
Let it go.
Release the guilt.
Think.
(27:53):
Imagine.
What?
And where to remove it too?
And be done with it.
Let it go.
Release it.
Be done with it.
Letting all that misplaced guilt go.
(28:14):
See ya.
Now, visualize yourself at the top of your symbolic staircase.
Imagine standing there.
And then, you can see the image of guilt.
(28:37):
And then, you can see the image of guilt.
And then, you can see the image of guilt.
And then, you can see the image of guilt.
This is a gift you are giving to yourself.
(29:00):
Every step down, your symbolic staircase reinforces this release of misplaced guilt permanently.
Now at 20.
19.
18.
(29:22):
17.
16.
15.
14.
13.
12.
11.
10.
(29:43):
9.
8.
7.
16.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
And 0.
(30:05):
Drifting deeper now into this comfort.
Negative gone.
Gone.
Gone away.
Gone in the path in goodwill, good humor and good feeling, knowing that a good deed has been done.
(30:28):
It's the all clear signs from within.
And on all around and all through, there is now an upper level experiencing intellectually.
Mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually for the freedom of being is here and here to stay.
(31:01):
And now feeling this experience in the fulfillment in all its totality and unity.
We reinforce the positives at zero.
And now at one coming up and out with a deep cleansing breath in and release.
(31:27):
Now at two, three, four, and five eyes open wide away.
1. 2.
3.
4.
5.
5.
Eyes open, wide awake
Release that misplaced guilt.
Yay!
(31:49):
How does that feel releasing that misplaced guilt?
When I did this meditation, the guilt felt heavy.
It felt small.
It felt like when I was the image of the guilt, I had a more limited view of the world.
And so releasing that letting that go.
(32:14):
Yay!
Definitely a gift we can give ourselves.
So I invite you to become more aware of when you have guilt, when it's misplaced guilt, and when it might be shame.
I know they're all pretty heavy energies, but exploring them and then having ways to release it and process it is only going to help us to move forward in a positive way.
(32:46):
And that's what we want to move forward in a positive way so we can spend more energy and time with those things and energies that replenish us rather than the ones that deplete us.
And guilt and shame are very depleting.
(33:07):
Having some fun, good conversations, community connections, those are nourishing.
So let's do more of that.
If you're like me, spend a time with your cows.
Yes.
It's almost like they know that it's September and they're thinking, OK, so shouldn't you be feeding us, hey, we see that it's here or being delivered.
(33:34):
Shouldn't you be giving us a little more attention?
Dude, it's been so hot.
We were in a heat wave. It's a little bit less now.
Like cows, it's not time.
And, and let's not think that it's time because that means winter's coming early and I am choosing not to believe that.
(33:55):
I don't want to.
A nice
soaker or rain would probably do well.
Let's hope.
So I'm going to wrap this up, sending you all a blessing.
And if you're feeling crunchy and you don't have time to do a full on meditation, don't forget to put your hands on your heart.
(34:23):
And just breathe in and out through your heart and give yourself that little energy reset.
So you can move forward in a positive way.
Hands on a heart, just breathing and being.
Being and breathing.
Breathing through your heart.
(34:46):
Breathing and now thinking of something that makes you really, really happy and feeling that lovely happy.
Energy wash over you.
Feels like a little dopamine buzz.
Just think about that and be in that energy.
(35:08):
Let it soak in every step of your being.
As you continue breathing in and out through your heart.
Smiling.
Is your feeling uplifted.
Nice.
And now you're just going to send that out to the world.
Nice.
(35:29):
And now you're going to say, may I be safe.
May I be healthy.
May I be happy.
May I be strong.
May I live life with grace and ease.
(35:54):
Nice.
And just keep repeating that mantra as many times as you need.
And give yourself a nice, pretty big breath in.
And out.
Open your eyes, bring yourself back to the room.
Say you're first name over.
(36:17):
So the longer meditations are to help you do some really deep rooted releasing.
The quick ones are to help you regulate your nervous system and be present right now.
So.
So big hugs until next time.
And I hope you have some amazing things happen to you.
(36:41):
Lots of unexpected positive blessings.
Bye bye.
[Music]
Hello, welcome to the podcast.
(00:07):
It is September already. Wow.
Time seems to be going fairly quickly.
I have a good cow story for you.
So when I went to work yesterday,
I'm driving along past my pasture and I'm like, hey.
(00:28):
It looks like my little bull, Marcello is in with the cows and he is not supposed to be.
We pulled our bulls about a week ago so that we could give our cows a different pasture.
Because if we left the bulls in, they sometimes think they need to go help the neighbor's cows get pregnant.
Yeah, not okay.
(00:51):
So we had our bulls in a different pasture.
And yeah, that apparently that didn't stay that way.
So when I got home after work, I went for a walk down the fence that was no longer existing.
(01:14):
Where little buddy Marcello got out. He's very proud of himself too.
The other two bulls were still in, not sure why.
So we go check on them because my highland bull he's kind of done.
He likes to hang out in this swampy area that's got lots of great grass and he has access to water.
(01:36):
And he doesn't come up and visit like the other two were.
So we had to go check on him.
And then my big black one, he was there.
He was not happy. He thought he should be in with the cows too.
Luckily my neighbors moved their cows so we could let them in.
So my husband and I go check them.
(01:57):
My husband goes to check the highland bull and he got yelled at.
Shanks got all huffy, puffy and growled and looked quite ferocious.
I'm like, huh.
I wouldn't enjoy that actually.
Not really.
There was enough trees and logs that my husband was safe, but you know.
(02:21):
A little aggressive there Shanksies buddy.
And then the other bull I was in between them and the other bull.
Heart of joy. He decides that he may need to join in and starts growling and stomping.
So I got out of there.
I was like, nope, not it. Not playing this game.
(02:43):
I'm going where there's more trees in case things go awry.
They are bulls after all.
Not doing it.
My husband did laugh at me.
Whatever.
So anyway, Shanks was fine.
All is good
And then a little bit later I look out and the Heart of Joy bull is by a gate.
(03:06):
He really wanted to be let in with the cow herd.
So I went up there and had a little chat with him.
And when there was enough cows gone, not harassing him.
I opened the gate and let him out and he was very happy with me.
And then this morning I saw that Shanks the Highland had come up by the cows
(03:27):
I wonder if he wants in with the cows.
I wonder if I'm going to get yelled at and have hurt feelings.
I guess we'll see.
So I go up there.
He's in the corral by the water.
And he comes over to the fence to get good boy scratches. Yay! not grouchy with me.
(03:49):
I felt like a winner.
So I shut the gate to the one pasture and I opened the other gate where he could join all the ladies.
And he was not interested.
In fact, I got yelled at for doing that.
And I had to change my plan.
(04:11):
Shut the gate to the cows.
Go open his gate to go back to his swamp pasture.
And he did yell at me for that.
And then he came up for good boy scratches.
I'm like, OK, well.
Shanks is done.
He did his job.
He's done.
(04:33):
He just wants to go have some.
Shanks time in the corner.
In the pasture by himself.
In fact, right now he's up on top of a small hill.
He sees all the rest of the cows, but he is 100% not interested in joining them.
No, he's done.
(04:55):
So of course, I did tell my husband that I didn't get yelled at like he did because it makes my day.
Right?
To be fair, if I got yelled at the way Brent did, I would.
Yeah, I would not be OK.
I would have very hurt feelings.
The rest of the cows are doing great.
(05:18):
They're all sassy when I go to do my horse chores because my emotional eater horse who needs his special ration in the mornings with the adrenal medicine.
I have like three or four cows now that come up to see if they could help or perhaps get a treat.
Never gets old.
It is so delightful.
(05:40):
Eddie, the great big huge steer.
He often stomps over some of the new heifers that were named by all the young men from the university who came to help this summer.
They come over and visit.
They're all very happy.
We have a mutual admiration society.
Yeah.
And again, I'm very happy that Shanks didn't yell at me the way he yelled at my husband.
(06:05):
Yeah, so good.
My horse just went out and they're all feeling great.
My emotional eaters not had any problems.
He runs away, which anytime I'm seeing him run, it makes my heart happy.
That means I can ride him anytime I want.
Perfect.
He's healthy.
Yeah.
(06:26):
It's kind of our main job, right?
Keeping everybody healthy and happy.
So my topic today is on guilt.
Because we have a lot of it, don't we?
So the guided imagery is releasing, misplaced guilt.
Guilt has a purpose.
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We need guilt to make sure we don't do things that are harmful to somebody else.
So we need that energy, but what we don't need is guilt that is misplaced and not healthy or useful.
So healthy guilt is a normal.
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Temporary.
It's a situation specific that stands from a genuine mistake.
And it can motivate you to make amends.
It can motivate you to improve your behavior.
It's a good thing because it helps you understand yourself.
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And you are guided to do an action to make amends for whatever you did that's causing the guilt, right?
And the other part of that is misplaced guilt or unhealthy guilt is excessive.
It's persistent.
And it's not tied to any real wrongdoing.
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But we kind of create it.
We criticize ourselves.
We can take responsibility for things that we don't really need to.
That's beyond our control and feel guilty when it doesn't work a certain way.
Misplaced guilt.
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Messes with our minds.
And it's harmful.
And it often makes us feel overwhelmed.
And can prevent us from moving forward.
And it's kind of simmers in there.
And it sucks.
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And we need to be able to release the misplaced guilt because it's not serving a purpose for us.
It's actually sabotaging us.
And we are doing it to ourselves.
Somebody could give us a guilt trip, right?
But if we believe it.
It's us that's doing it to ourselves.
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We have the choice whether to believe that it's true or not to believe that it's true.
Does that make sense?
And so misplaced guilt can really get you stuck in a spiral.
How do you differentiate between healthy guilt, that yes, I did that?
I need to make amends.
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I need to apologize.
Yikes shouldn't done that.
Or compared to misplaced guilt.
So to differentiate, you can ask yourself, did I actually do something wrong?
Or did I actually cause somebody harm?
Is it from a real event, a real situation?
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Or is it from like a sense of obligation that isn't yours?
Or is it stemming from a fear of something?
Look for patterns.
Does the guilt fade once you've acted to make amends?
Making amends is huge.
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A really great apology.
An acknowledgement of what you did wrong and how you hurt or harm somebody.
That's an amends.
So does the guilt fade once you've done an amends?
Or does it persist and lead to ongoing negative self-talk?
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Guilt's kind of a big one.
It's a heavy energy.
So what do you do?
Again, like I just said, for healthy guilt, make amends.
Apology and action really make it known that you acknowledge what you've done or what happened.
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And you want to make it right.
For misplaced guilt, practice self-compassion.
Forgive yourself.
Do this guided imagery that we're doing to release it.
And really take a look at the situation.
And consider that others may not be your responsibility.
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If it's excessive or tied to past trauma, you know, you can get help with this.
To let go of that burden.
Again, guilt is healthy.
I'm part of our life because we sometimes make choices.
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We sometimes have consequences.
And so you make amends.
You make it right.
You apologize.
You acknowledge it.
Misplaced guilt is the one that's sabotaging where you are taking on a responsibility that's not yours.
That you can't even do.
And so you feel guilty about it.
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Look at the situations and figure out healthy guilt, misplaced guilt, and what can you like go of.
Not always easy.
For sure.
And again, we are so hard on ourselves that we can mind mess and take on thoughts and patterns and beliefs that just aren't useful.
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Sounds simple, but we all know it's not right.
And guilt isn't appropriate response when there's been harm and wrongdoing.
And you know it, right?
You know, when you make that choice, and then you have to process the guilt.
And then if you decide if you want to make amends or if you're like, no, I'm okay.
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And then you have to process that guilt.
I meant to do that.
For whatever reason.
And like my caution to you is don't get all caught up in it.
Stuff happens.
And.
Yes, we can feel guilty.
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And yes, we have to process that energy.
And then yes, we have to decide if we need to make amends with someone.
That was the jerk thing to do.
I'm really sorry.
Especially when it involves alcohol, right?
Things that seem like a good idea.
Yeah.
And then it's not.
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And then you feel that next morning guilt.
And then you make amends where you can.
Or the best feeling is when you go and talk to your friends and nobody's mad at you for anything.
Or they're just teasing you about what you did, but nobody's mad and you don't have to make an amends because you're not entirely sure.
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Right.
That's an extreme example of guilt, but.
We all know about it.
Don't wait.
And so that's healthy guilt.
Right.
The misplaced guilt would be, you know.
Not talking to anybody because you feel terrible about what did or didn't happen and isolating yourself and being super hard on yourself or what happened.
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That would be misplaced guilt.
Especially if you keep ruminating on it and can't let it go become a little obsessive about it.
And misplaced guilt can also cause us to feel what we're feeling and we feel guilty and maybe we did something to somebody.
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But then we make them the villain.
Because we don't like feeling guilty.
And so we make them the villain so that we can convince ourselves they deserved it.
Now I know you all know what I'm talking about because we've all done it.
That we need to process work through and perhaps figure out a different way.
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Unless you never want a relationship with them again.
Then that is what it is, right?
Then perhaps whatever happened had to happen so that you could let that go.
We are very complicated.
Nothing is simple.
ok back to guilt.
Healthy guilt.
It's a situation.
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Something's happened.
You did and then you feel remorse.
You make amends.
You apologize.
I also want to say the guilt is different than shame.
Guilt is about behavior.
You did something.
The shame is about yourself.
So guilt would be I did something.
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I shouldn't have.
I did something bad.
I did something inappropriate.
Shame would be I am bad.
I am inappropriate.
I'm not good enough.
And shame is destructive.
But we want to make sure that we're knowing the difference between guilt and shame.
Guilt is about behavior.
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Shame is about how we feel about ourselves.
And it's it's painful.
And we can do something that makes us feel guilty and we can also feel shame.
But we have to realize or recognize that feeling guilty about something is.
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There was an action that you did so you can do another action to make amends.
Shame you got to work through.
And you're doing it to yourself.
And these are very, very, very messy energies.
Working on guilt and shame was one of my big goals when I went on my laughter yoga journey.
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Because I wanted a way to release the energies.
And between guided imagery tapping and laughter yoga, it does work to do that to help us process and work through.
And we need our tools, right?
And again, I'm going to remind you guilt is about what you did.
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Feeling bad about a specific action or failure to act.
Well shame is about who you are.
A deep felt belief that you are fundamentally flawed or bad as a person.
So we're going to do a guided imagery about shame next week for sure.
But we're going to work on guilt first. Remember guilt about the action and misplaced guilt.
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You know, that could be also described as shame.
Oh, I'm going to look into that.
I just checked into that.
And shame is not misplaced guilt.
They are very distinct emotions with different sources.
So they can be confused, which happens all the time.
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Again, guilt is about an action you've done wrong.
Well shame is the feeling about your character as a whole, believing you're not a good person.
Guilt is an internal moral compass, response to a specific behavior.
Shame involves a painful feeling of being fundamentally flawed and unworthy.
So you can see why these are big emotions and we want to have ways to deal with them, process them and release them.
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And we're starting with guilt, like I said.
Perhaps we need to be more like my little bull.
He has no guilt or shame of breaking the fence and joining the ladies.
He doesn't feel like he has to make amends.
Just what he wanted to do.
More instinctual. You didn't harm anybody.
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All right. So let's go ahead and do our guided imagery.
And we are going to release that guilt.
And so during this, I'm going to invite you to come up with an image.
Just let it flow. Don't overthink. Don't second guess yourself.
Just follow the guided imagery and let whatever happen happen.
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And don't forget to get to come back to it anytime you want when the energies get to be too much.
And you need to release that misplaced guilt.
All right.
Coming to settle.
And be at ease.
I invite you to take three big deep breaths.
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Three big deep breaths.
And I'm one of those breaths allowing eyes to close in their own tiny.
And then the eyes.
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Begin to visualize or imagine a wave of comfort starting at the tips of your toes.
Moving all the way up to the top of your head. And back down again to the tips of your toes.
Breathing in. This wave of comfort.
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Again, most from the tips of toes. All the way up to the top of head.
And on your exhale, it moves all the way back down to the tips of your toes.
It's breathing in.
Yeah, breathing out allowing this wave of comfort to do its magic.
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Giving yourself this gift of breathing and being.
Being and breathing.
Each time the wave of comfort moves up the body and back down again.
The vibration from the wave becomes stronger and stronger, sending deeper and deeper comfort.
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And again, breathing in.
From the tips of the toes.
All the way up to the top of your head.
And back down again on your exhale.
Moving even deeper and deeper into comfort.
Allowing this wave of comfort to cycle around for a few more moments.
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Until you feel completely at ease.
Being and breathing.
Breathing and being.
Allowing the wave of comfort.
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It's nice.
And now this wave of comfort continues to work positively, comfortably, even when we count backwards now from 5 to 0.
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And now 5, 4, 3, 2, becoming even more comfortable now.
1, 0, deeply, deeply, deeply relaxed.
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If to open the door of imagination to an image that stands there representing guilt.
Bring forth an image that represents guilt.
Don't overthink.
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Just let it flow.
And wonder what might perhaps begin to take place.
To discover about this image could be valuable and interesting.
Coming to know when it is true and when it is misplaced.
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Perhaps that could be important.
If there were an image that would be standing there for guilt.
Wonder what it would be like.
Who suppose about it all?
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When sensory awareness is high.
Like now, while you're in this comfort state, feeling safe, feeling secure.
What's the first thing about this image of guilt?
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Notice what you notice.
How does it feel to be with it?
Feel what you feel.
What might be said to it?
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How might it respond back?
Hear what you hear.
See what you see.
Feel what you feel.
Hear what you hear.
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And know what you know.
Well, in this energy of this image of guilt.
I now invite you to find out more about it.
Trade places with it for a few moments.
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What is it view the world?
What does it feel like emotionally to be the image of guilt?
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Trading back, becoming yourself again.
Now, what is understood about this image?
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Anything more that seems important to find out about it?
Then, when ready?
Release this image of guilt.
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Release misplaced guilt.
How could that happen?
Let the imagination run with it.
Perhaps, to toss it out into the deep dark blue of the universe.
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Moving misplaced guilt out into somewhere, never been before to never come back.
Let it go.
Release the guilt.
Think.
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Imagine.
What?
And where to remove it too?
And be done with it.
Let it go.
Release it.
Be done with it.
Letting all that misplaced guilt go.
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See ya.
Now, visualize yourself at the top of your symbolic staircase.
Imagine standing there.
And then, you can see the image of guilt.
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And then, you can see the image of guilt.
And then, you can see the image of guilt.
And then, you can see the image of guilt.
This is a gift you are giving to yourself.
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Every step down, your symbolic staircase reinforces this release of misplaced guilt permanently.
Now at 20.
19.
18.
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17.
16.
15.
14.
13.
12.
11.
10.
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9.
8.
7.
16.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
And 0.
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Drifting deeper now into this comfort.
Negative gone.
Gone.
Gone away.
Gone in the path in goodwill, good humor and good feeling, knowing that a good deed has been done.
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It's the all clear signs from within.
And on all around and all through, there is now an upper level experiencing intellectually.
Mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually for the freedom of being is here and here to stay.
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And now feeling this experience in the fulfillment in all its totality and unity.
We reinforce the positives at zero.
And now at one coming up and out with a deep cleansing breath in and release.
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Now at two, three, four, and five eyes open wide away.
1. 2.
3.
4.
5.
5.
Eyes open, wide awake
Release that misplaced guilt.
Yay!
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How does that feel releasing that misplaced guilt?
When I did this meditation, the guilt felt heavy.
It felt small.
It felt like when I was the image of the guilt, I had a more limited view of the world.
And so releasing that letting that go.
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Yay!
Definitely a gift we can give ourselves.
So I invite you to become more aware of when you have guilt, when it's misplaced guilt, and when it might be shame.
I know they're all pretty heavy energies, but exploring them and then having ways to release it and process it is only going to help us to move forward in a positive way.
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And that's what we want to move forward in a positive way so we can spend more energy and time with those things and energies that replenish us rather than the ones that deplete us.
And guilt and shame are very depleting.
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Having some fun, good conversations, community connections, those are nourishing.
So let's do more of that.
If you're like me, spend a time with your cows.
Yes.
It's almost like they know that it's September and they're thinking, OK, so shouldn't you be feeding us, hey, we see that it's here or being delivered.
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Shouldn't you be giving us a little more attention?
Dude, it's been so hot.
We were in a heat wave. It's a little bit less now.
Like cows, it's not time.
And, and let's not think that it's time because that means winter's coming early and I am choosing not to believe that.
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I don't want to.
A nice
soaker or rain would probably do well.
Let's hope.
So I'm going to wrap this up, sending you all a blessing.
And if you're feeling crunchy and you don't have time to do a full on meditation, don't forget to put your hands on your heart.
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And just breathe in and out through your heart and give yourself that little energy reset.
So you can move forward in a positive way.
Hands on a heart, just breathing and being.
Being and breathing.
Breathing through your heart.
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Breathing and now thinking of something that makes you really, really happy and feeling that lovely happy.
Energy wash over you.
Feels like a little dopamine buzz.
Just think about that and be in that energy.
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Let it soak in every step of your being.
As you continue breathing in and out through your heart.
Smiling.
Is your feeling uplifted.
Nice.
And now you're just going to send that out to the world.
Nice.
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And now you're going to say, may I be safe.
May I be healthy.
May I be happy.
May I be strong.
May I live life with grace and ease.
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Nice.
And just keep repeating that mantra as many times as you need.
And give yourself a nice, pretty big breath in.
And out.
Open your eyes, bring yourself back to the room.
Say you're first name over.
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So the longer meditations are to help you do some really deep rooted releasing.
The quick ones are to help you regulate your nervous system and be present right now.
So.
So big hugs until next time.
And I hope you have some amazing things happen to you.
(36:41):
Lots of unexpected positive blessings.
Bye bye.
[Music]
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