Get rid of a guilty conscience: How you can overcome feelings of guilt

A bad conscience can have many causes and is often unfounded. But you can get rid of tormenting thoughts and remorse. We’ll show you what tricks work.

Mishaps, forgetfulness, a piece of chocolate too much or a thoughtless word – things don’t always go smoothly in everyday life. A bad conscience often arises from perfectionism, high morale or low self-confidence. Often not because of actual guilt.

But other people can also make us feel guilty by accusing us of things that we can’t get out of our heads. Our upbringing can also cause us to take certain things too much to heart.

We often feel guilty even though we are not at fault. For example, many children have this feeling after their parents separate.

Overcoming a bad conscience: tips & tricks

However, it is also possible to get rid of a guilty conscience and free yourself from these negative thoughts. You can do it with the following tips and tricks:

• Which values ​​are important to you? A bad conscience is often linked to certain values. With high expectations of ourselves and instilled values ​​and morals, we often only put unnecessary pressure on ourselves.
• Take responsibility for your mistakes. Because running away doesn’t help, sooner or later a bad conscience will catch up with you again.
• Your behavior is the cause, not you. Because even if things don’t go well, you as a person are not the problem. Thoughts like “I’m stupid, lazy or forgetful” won’t get you anywhere. Rather, look for the specific context in which the mistake happened to you. For example, it might look like this: “Because I couldn’t get out of bed, I was late for work. In the future, I will set my alarm earlier so that this doesn’t happen to me again.” This is how you admit a mistake without taking it personally.
• If you have offended or hurt someone, it is best to contact him or her immediately and apologize. After you have admitted your guilt and made amends, there is usually a great sense of relief.
• Accept your guilty conscience. Because it’s absolutely okay to have pangs of conscience every now and then. Mistakes happen to each of us. Accept your mistakes and weaknesses because they are human. Try to be careful with yourself.
• Put your guilty conscience aside. This is especially true if you don’t know why you feel guilty. Because if the bad conscience is not appropriate, it usually disappears on its own.
• Try to look into the future. If you have a guilty conscience, you often think about the trigger – i.e. the past. It’s no use blaming yourself for it. Rather, use your energy to learn from your behavior in order to do better in the future.

• Strengthen your self-confidence. This is especially true when even the smallest mishap causes you to despair. Accept yourself because you are good the way you are.

What happens when we make ourselves feel guilty?

The constant pangs of conscience can cause anger, fear, doubt and self-blame. This can even get so bad that depression occurs. According to the German Depression Aid, feelings of guilt are one of the criteria or additional symptoms of mental illness. If you suffer from a guilty conscience, you should not hesitate to speak to your family doctor.

But remorse can also be helpful. Without a guilty conscience, chaos would reign. Because it is important to deal with your own actions. We can learn from our mistakes, but we also have to be able to let them go.

Read more at Utopia:

• Learning self-love: tips and exercises for the beloved self
• Hygge: This is how happiness works in Danish
• Bad mood: Use these tips to improve your mood

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