Welcome to Module 2: Clearing the Emotional Blocks around Guilt and Shame
Please listen to the accompanying audio lecture with this text.
Key Points about guilt and shame
Keep in mind that the Ego is the part of our being that keeps us emotionally attached to the material world. Although, we do need the Ego in order to manifest ourselves into the world, we also have to be aware of the wounds the Ego carries and reminds us of (sometimes daily). In other words, the ego is what makes up our psyche; and while the Ego makes up our thoughts, it not who we are. Rather, we are Spiritual Consciousness, which is the highest potential of your being with limitless possibilities, including non-attachment to emotions, non-attachment to the past or to the future; it flourishes in the present moment.
Just like fear, shame and guilt are part of the Ego consciousness. You are not shame. You are not guilt. It is, rather, attachments to something in the past (or sometimes the future) will bring these emotions to the surface. They may even underlay patterns and conditioning, where you don’t even realize you’re making choices out of guilt or shame.
Differentiating between guilt and shame
Guilt is when you feel “bad” because you did something wrong. That is a corrective emotion, showing you that you would like to behave in a different way around an experience. Guilt is helpful, it takes us in directions we’d ultimately like to go. Healthy guilt is self-generated: “I wish I wouldn’t have done that.”
Shame happens when you are told that something you are doing is bad, when you did not initially have a sense that what you were doing was bad — so you get the idea that you are bad. It is not initially self-generated, but becomes so over time. Shame is our fear that we are not good enough to belong, that we are not good enough to experience love and inclusion in those groups to which we wish to belong. It’s a conflict between our higher self who knows us, and where we want to go, and our ego self, who wants to do what is expected to belong, in order to ensure the safety of our physical self.
To put this differentiation simply: Guilt is when you feel you did something wrong. Shame is when you feel that who you are is wrong. This is important because what we are talking about is an Ego and Spiritual conflict in the body. Some experience or person from the material world is impacting the spirit in a way that leaves a deep mark.
Guilt and shame in the body
It is important to recognize the feelings of guilt and shame because they can be so gripping in the emotional body, so that no matter what your intuition is telling you, you will NEVER listen to it, if guilt or shame is in place. Both of these emotions are of an extremely low vibration, and they will pull your spirit down.
Here is some advice on where guilt and shame could reside in your body. Guilt about something in the past may be felt higher up in the body and often in the heart. Why? Because honesty is what keeps you in right alignment with source and Truth is usually felt in the heart. If you do something that is out of alignment, then you may feel twisted inside; that is guilt. The heart often is the place of consciousness in the body that will react if you have knowlingly done something out of alignment. The 3rd chakra (Solar Plexus) may also kick in with some body-sensations if your solar plexus intuition is stronger than your heart intuition (that does happen for people sometimes). The 3rd chakra may also be where you internalize that guilt until you find a way to “right the wrong”.
Shame on the other hand is a deep insult to the lower half of the body. It often is something that is instilled by dogma (including religious) in the attempt to align a spirit to that dogma from the root chakra upward. It is a way of instilling morals and beliefs. As a spiritually progressing soul and through energy healing, you can bring truth and Spiritual Consciousness to those old wounds and beliefs in the 1st and 2nd chakras. Guilt tripping or shaming was a way to control. Now that you are working on yourselves, you are changing your bonding from bonding to that way of being raised to growing spiritually.
So, when you are moving through clearing Guilt and Shame, consider breathing into ANYWHERE you feel it in your body. The suggested locations above are guidelines, but trust your intuition as to where guilt/shame (if at all) are felt in your system.
Please note that Anger may come up with Shame or Guilt and, that is important to feel. We will spend time next week clearing Anger and so you will have further opportunity to purge if necessary!
Some forms guilt or shame may take:
Co-dependency
Low self-esteem
Fearing confrontation (Feeling bad to confront)
Trouble asking for what you want
Finding “sideways” ways to get needs met
Intimacy issues
Connection moment
This may be heavy stuff, so take a minute and ask yourself: What is the opposite of guilt or shame? Now breathe into that and hold onto it, because you have it in you to source your spirit as you move through this week’s assignment.
How to Nourish your spirit while releasing emotions:
Forgiveness to heal guilt and shame
There is an important tool for healing guilt and shame and that is FORGIVENESS. In order to truly forgive, you have to feel completely released of the anger, guilt or shame feeling. Forgiveness is taking yourself out of karmic prison with the other person and agreeing that you are no longer holding them responsible for your feelings. Forgive yourself and ask the Divine for forgiveness too, if necessary.
Self Love to heal guilt and shame– If guilt and shame are the feeling of being bad or wrong, then one could say the opposite of “I’m bad”, is “I am love”. Loving yourself and offering yourself acts of love is so necessary in all aspects of healing, but especially important in releasing guilt and shame. You are LOVED you are LOVE. You, as a manifested human being, are an embodiment of love. Let love fill into the places where guilt and shame left emptiness. Fill yourself up with the light of love.
You are about to advance to the Week 2 Assignment for clearing.
REMINDER: Tools for Unpacking and Processing your Emotions
- Breathe into them. Direct your breath to the area of the body where the emotion is stored and breathe into it. Think about your the systems in your body, organs or even cells; think about limbs, skin, etc.
- Direct your focus to an area of the body where you notice the feeling sits
- Try to visualize or create a “feels like/looks like/smells like” metaphor for your emotion. Answer questions like: what does it look like; what is the consistency; what color does it have? You might get things like: Fire, smokey clouds, quicksand, sticky glue, etc. To clear, think of how you would deal with what ever appeared to you. For instance: How would you put out fire? Think about what visuals you would create in turn to clear/transform that image and the emotion you are associating with it.
- Talk to the emotion with the intention of getting to know it better. You are a journalist, and your emotion is an interviewee. Ask questions such as: Where did it come from? Did it come from you or someone else? How old is it? Do you need it anymore? Is it ready to go? If so, take some deep breaths and let it release down your grounding chord.
- Drink lots of water after a clearing to flush the cells through.