Gratitude changed to guilt

It is never too late to turn guilt into gratitude

Trying to turn Guilt into Gratitude…

It was a crushing news day. I read about a friends’ child dying. I heard testimony about ISIS and mustard gas. I learned that a close acquaintance had lung cancer. I realized that a colleague had enough money problems to have to abandon her craft. I watched a video of a brutal racially motivated crime and saw a photo of a man killing cats with a smile. I listened to Latino mayors talk about their cities being swallowed by the sea. Amongst it all are the testimonials of other Americans who think a man who spews hate should be our next president.

My response to the above?


I wrote a post about NAPPING. Of all of the carefree privileged topics on the planet napping may top them all.

But to react with guilt? 

It helps no one and changes nothing. I feel guilty just thinking about the inefficacy of my response

I have researched guilt in the past and come to some clinical conclusions. None of which matter if I can’t practice flipping the coin of guilt to the shinier side of gratitude.

Instead of guilt I will practice being grateful. I appreciate my health and relative wealth,  liberties that let me be liberal, a skin color that allows me to work within the establishment if I choose. I am grateful to be able to support organizations and individuals that work to create equality. I notice science and policy that is slowly beginning to shift towards taking care of the planet and I choose advocate for these changes.

I can stop napping and wake up to our flawed world and know that things can change in a second for the worse. Which means they can change for the better as well.  

I can celebrate that.


What do you do with your guilt? What gratitude can you offer today.

The following two tabs change content below.

Latest posts by Anna Palmer (see all)