I have been learning the difference between guilt and regret. As I begin to truly understand that they are not the same, I am able to put behind me the mistakes I have made and all the negative energy I have been directing at myself. Guilt helps us feel that we don’t deserve to be happy. It is not helpful to feel guilty. It doesn’t bring any positive results, but only makes us miserable and blocks our spiritual development. Regret on the other hand, is intelligent and constructive. Regret motivates us to abandon the behavior that has caused harm to ourselves and others. It helps us realize that what we were doing was destructive.
Guilt tends to be emotional rather than rational and intelligent. We focus on things we have done wrong or things we feel we should have done but didn’t do. We feel “I’m bad and I will always be this way.” By letting go of my guilt I am able to truly complete the repentance process. I can finally stop beating myself over the mistakes I made that separated me from the ones I love.
I used to believe that in order to really repent, I had to continually feel bad about my actions and if I was ever “okay” with my mistakes, then I hadn’t really, fully repented. I pray we can all really forgive ourselves for being imperfect and give all our mistakes to the Lord.
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