This document in all parts is copyright © Peter Hughes from the date of construction given above.
These documents have taken me years of my own, unpaid time to perfect. Please feel free to make use of them for solely personal purposes. However, should you wish to use them for teaching, training, commercial or other purposes, you are required to ask me first, or else incredible quantities of bricks will descend from on high.
When I feel guilty, the feeling may be a direct response to immediate circumstances. However, there may also be antecedent circumstances that predispose me to feeling guilty.
- "When I was a child, I was told repeatedly that I was in the wrong. It was usually by my parents, but also by teachers at school. It isn't that I was bad, in fact, I tried a lot of the time to be good, to get it right, and not to earn the disapproval of others. I would be blamed for things I didn't do. Whenever things went wrong for other people, it was deemed to be my fault. I could never trust a situation not to end up with me being somehow in the wrong. I often feel now as though I am in the wrong, even though I am not."
- "Throughout my life, I have done things that I know I shouldn't. When I was young, I would snaffle or filch, swear and tell lies. These days I smoke cigarettes and dope, drink too much, and drive the car too fast. Sometimes I have been caught and punished. Usually I get away with it. Trouble is, when I get away with it, I live in fear that it will catch up with me, and so I still end up feeling guilty for having done it."
- "I often feel bad about myself. My counsellor says that I have low self-esteem. (I see the counsellor only once a fortnight because I haven't the time to go more often.) I often feel guilty when I am lazy, put my feet up and watch the telly or read a book. Only when I am busy and doing things can I believe that I am a tolerably okay person."
- "I rarely feel good about myself. My counsellor says that I have low self-esteem. (It is self-indulgent of me to see the counsellor at all, but I think she reckons that I need to keep coming.) I generally feel guilty if I do anything for me. I like doing things for other people, because then I know that I deserve their approval, even if they don't give it."
This document in all parts is copyright © Peter Hughes from the date of construction given above.
These documents have taken me years of my own, unpaid time to perfect. Please feel free to make use of them for solely personal purposes. However, should you wish to use them for teaching, training, commercial or other purposes, you are required to ask me first, or else incredible quantities of bricks will descend from on high.