We can feel a sense of gratitude to someone or something, but it does not necessarily have to become indebtedness. What creates mandatory indebtedness is guilt.
Guilt free gratitude
You may be grateful to your High School coach who gave you the opportunity to see what you have inside yourself. The Bank Officer who helped you find the perfect home loan deserves thanks, but would you lend them your car or give them a kidney? Are you indebted to your Postal Carrier for delivering your mail even though so many good things come to you through them? The answer is probably not to all the above, because they are guilt free gratitude.
We often come across people who feel that if they do something nice for us, we are indebted to them, that we owe them something. This attitude is akin to blackmail. We sometimes find ourselves believing that because we went out of our way to help someone else, that they owe us something. Don’t be that person! Doing good for others, being of service, is its own reward. In fact, in my mind, doing service is an obligation we all have.
Institutional Guilt
Some churches for instance, regard the comfort we derive from being part of a congregation or following their teachings means we must feel a debit to them. The whole purpose of a spiritual organization is to help others; not to enslave them. Institutional Guilt can also be based around an employer. We dare not speak ill of what they are doing because it would seem ungrateful. By virtue of your blind support you condone wrongdoing (if it exists).
Being grateful for what we receive is a cornerstone of my beliefs, please don’t get me wrong, but guilt is a destructive concept we can all do without. Read Think, Believe, Receive and learn more. Click the cover below to begin.
