guilt

Guilt 

Guilt is the feeling that you've done something wrong or made a mistake. Guilt can be useful in making people feel bad about their mistakes so they try to change their behavior, but it can also be used as a way of shifting guilt on to other people. For example, if someone spends more than they earn and cannot afford to buy food for their family, they feel guilty. But if their partner spends too much money on clothes and tells them they can't afford to buy food, they may feel angry with their partner rather than guilt about the situation. 

Guilt is powerful when it's based on empathy; seeing things from another person's perspective and feeling how they must be feeling. If you feel guilty when your partner tells you they are stressed, for example, then that's because you can empathize with them and see how they might be feeling. You don't have to do anything to help them or change the situation but just knowing how they feel makes you want to reach out and support them. Guilt can also be used to manipulate people into doing something they don't want to do. For example, you feel guilty because your partner is stressed about work, so you agree to give up your job so that they don't have to worry anymore. In this situation, your partner has used guilt to get you to do what they want. This manipulation makes it hard for relationships because you can't rely on people feeling guilty about what's important. Sometimes, the person who does the most might feel the least guilty and so there is imbalance in how much concern each partner has for helping one another. But if one person always feels guilty about their actions, they will feel resentful because it makes them feel too responsible for the problems in the relationship. If guilt is used to manipulate you into doing things that are not in your best interest, then it's not a good feeling. 

So, guilt can be good when it encourages us to empathize with other people and take their needs into account. But it can be bad when we use it to manipulate other people to do things they don't really want to do or feel responsible for things that aren't their fault. 

You may also feel guilty when you do not meet your own expectations, which can increase your feelings of stress and anxiety. For example, if you are giving a presentation at work but forget some important information you were going to say, you may feel guilty even though it was an accident, and nobody noticed. 

Guilt is a very common feeling, but it is not always appropriate. If you feel guilty about something, it's important to understand why you are feeling that way and how you can deal with your guilt. Talking with a loved one can help you to gain some perspective and work through the way you feel.