Part 5: Guilt and brain biology
In the previous posts in the series, I've talked about how we have emotions about emotions and also about the Ayurvedic perspective on the Ego. Here I want to try to incorporate the Western perspective on Guilt as I understand it. (see previous) Now, where does ‘guilt’ come into this. If we think about ‘guilt’ from a Western perspective, we think of guilt being a part of having a conscience. It’s kind of a ‘good’ thing because it lets us know that we’ve done something ‘bad’, that we’ve transgressed one of our values. I guess it’s like a restrainer. Feeling guilty about something helps prevent us from doing it again. And the ‘bad’ feeling of feeling guilty also motivates us to take action to repair damage etc. I’m doing my best to outline it as I understand it – but as I said at the beginning – I’m not sure I get it – so feel free to help me out here. When I outline it in this way, it really seems that we can’t understand it without also understand brain biology. Namely that the pre-frontal cortex that helps us modulate emotional experience is not fully functional until well into our 20s and certainly not as child when we are learning all about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ from our parents, teachers and peers. So while we are waiting for our pre-frontal cortex to fully develop, we use what we have available to us to modulate emotion – namely, creating emotions about emotions. (to be continued ...)
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AuthorI'm an Ayurvedic Life Coach, Teacher and Massage Therapist living on the 'Linha de Cascais' in Portugal. I love sharing Ayurveda and appreciation of Life with others. Archives
April 2020
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