Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye.

When I think of guilt outside the judicial system, I immediately recall what's called the Jewish guilt trip with which I was raised.

It's a passive aggressive weapon used by Jewish mothers everywhere to lure their children into something as subtle as doing the dishes or as cunning as lifelong indebtedness for the pain and suffering of childbirth.

You know the old joke? How does a Jewish mother change a light bulb?

She just sits in a dark room and says, you guys go out and have a great time tonight.'ll just sit here alone in the dark it's totally fine go ahead

The intention is to make you feel so guilty that you not only change the light bulb you might even stay with her instead of going out.

But that's unhealthy guilt, the kind that other people think you should feel because of

cultural or social expectations.

There is also a healthy kind of guilt that genuinely comes from within.

Many people send me letters saying they are riddled with both types of guilt,

either triggered by things they've done in the past, which I think is good,

and I'll tell you why in a minute

or a guilt that is imposed upon them by other people often relatives who make them

feel guilty for one reason or another but can anyone really make you feel

something that you don't already?

And when you do feel guilty, isn't that a good sign that you regret certain behavior you would rather not repeat?

To get acquainted with healthy guilt and dismiss the uninvited kind, similar to my morning ritual of making a gratitude list, my evening practice involves looking back on my day to see if I regret anything I've done, like giving myself a daily report card of sorts.

Yesterday, for example, I flunked the patient's pop quiz. I got a B on kindness. I could have scored much higher than a C in self-care, but I got a solid A for effort, so today I get to try again.

This is why I think healthy guilt is a wonderful internal compass for morals, ethics, and values.

Telling you when you've made a wrong turn and then each moment after that is an opportunity

to redirect yourself toward True North. This daily practice has a few benefits.

One, the act of acknowledging my missteps

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