A short advice piece (spoken by Dr. Aziz) explaining steps to address chronic guilt: recognize guilt as an active personal process, identify the subconscious rule believed to have been broken, and evaluate whether that rule is reasonable or sustainable—then decide whether to adopt a different rule. The content emphasizes self-inquiry into origin of the rule and personal choice.
Here is how to deal with guilt that won't go away, or chronic guilt. First, you have to realize that guilt is not something that's happening to you like the weather. It's actually a process that you are engaged in. It's a pattern that you are practicing, even if it's subconsciously. And the second thing is to figure out what's going on subconsciously, which is ask yourself this question. What rule did I break? Really force yourself to find the answer to that. What is the rule? Is that I hurt somebody, I should never hurt somebody. Is that someone feels sad, they should never feel sad. Is that I did something that was wrong? What is it that I did that was wrong? Really investigate it. And then the third step is to ask yourself, is this a reasonable rule? Is this a rule that seems healthy? So if the rule is someone is upset, and you should never make anyone ever upset in your life, at some point you got to take total ownership for your experience of life and say, is that a sustainable rule? Is that a healthy rule? Or am I going to claim something different? Where did I learn that rule? Who taught me that? And when am I going to choose something different?
