Return on Life: Keep on learning!

You never know where your next learning will come from, so it pays to keep an open mind. During a presentation earlier this week (at the Women etcetera! Pittsburgh Conference) as I was discussing attitudes that do and don't help you as you consider life changes, I stated that guilt was an emotion that had no purpose. My thought on this has been that although many people believe that guilt is a motivator when you don't do something you should (or DO do something you shouldn't), I see it as a DE-motivator. Getting stuck in guilt holds you back.

As I finished the thought, a hand went up in the back of the room. Dr. Katie McCorkle (www.drkatie.com) of the Balanced Heart Healing Center begged to differ with me. Although she agreed that it's not helpful to get stuck in feelings of guilt, she pointed out that guilt is an indicator that something is wrong. It made immediate sense. Just as physical pain is an indicator that something is wrong with our bodies, guilt is an emotional pain that something is off kilter in our psyche. So guilt DOES have a purpose--but only as an initial indicator. If it's indicating that you've made a less than stellar decision or taken an action you regret, use that indicator to decide whether you need to make amends and then move on, or just simply accept the situation and move on. Either way, don't stay stuck in the guilt stage. Moving past this stage quickly will have a positive impact on your Return on Life. Thank you, Dr. Katie!