Roots of the Rise
Grounded wisdom for the journey inward and upward.
Roots of the Rise is a soul-centered podcast hosted by Sarah Hope—Ayurvedic health practitioner, spiritual mentor, meditation teacher, biodynamic craniosacral therapist, and energy healer. Drawing from thousands of hours of client work, group facilitation, and her own journey through childhood trauma, grief, and the profound rediscovery of love and joy, Sarah offers a grounded, heart-led space for inner transformation.
Short, daily episodes (10–20 minutes) offer bite-sized insights, ideas, and practices for inner growth and self-development. Whether you're seasoned on the path or just beginning to explore, this podcast gives you digestible nuggets to stay inspired—without overwhelm. It’s perfect for those who want to stay engaged in the work, curious newcomers feeling overloaded by long-form content, or anyone wanting to understand a loved one's journey from a broader, more accessible perspective.
Sarah’s intention is to expose you to a wide range of spiritual concepts, therapeutic tools, philosophies, and practices—all in service of helping you become the healthiest, happiest, most authentic version of yourself. The journey can be hard. It can feel lonely. But you’re not alone. Come walk this path with her—learning, healing, and rising, one grounded step at a time.
Roots of the Rise
Episode 49 - Guilt: Guide or Gremlin?
We explore the complex nature of guilt as an emotional feedback system that can either guide us toward growth or bind us in shame. Guilt serves as a signal when we've fallen short of our values, offering an opportunity to realign with our authentic selves when we approach it with discernment and compassion.
• Guilt arises when we fall short of our own expectations or values
• The distinction between guilt ("I did something bad") and shame ("I am bad")
• How guilt can be a teacher when it guides us and a demon when it binds us
• Examining the contextual forces that influence our actions
• Seven practical steps to process guilt in a healthy way
• The importance of self-forgiveness as a crucial component of growth
• Remembering that we never lose our inherent worth despite our actions
Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode, and feel free to reach out with questions or thoughts at rootsoftherise@gmail.com.
Other Guilt related resources:
Episode 11 - Forgiveness and one way to get the apology you always wanted
Episode 18 - Your First Language Was Emotion—Are You Still Fluent?
Episode 22 - Non Violent Communication Basics
Atlas of the Heart By Brene Brown
Guilt is the Demon of the 2nd Chakra- learn more about the Chakras here:
Episode 47 - Second Chakra Introduction
Episode 44 - First Chakra introduction
Episode 43 - Introduction to the Chakras
The Chakras by C. W. Leadbeater
Eastern Body Western Mind by Anodea Judith PhD
Welcome to Roots of the Rise with me, sarah Hogan. This week we're exploring our emotional programming, and we can't have that conversation without talking about guilt. So let's dive into this particularly challenging aspect of our emotional feedback system. I think it's pretty safe to say we've all felt it. We've all felt guilt at some point. We feel it for all sorts of things for little things, for small things, like sneaking that extra cookie right, having a guilty pleasure moment and we feel it for big things. We feel it when we have wronged someone, when we have done something that's hurt someone, or when we do something that's not really aligning with our own values. I mean, that's where guilt comes from. It arises when we fall short of our own expectations or values. It's this signal that we've done something wrong or something that doesn't match up with who we want to be, and often it brings with it a sense of responsibility or a call to repair, meaning to apologize or certainly to change the behavior. Now, whether or not we do that, whether or not we follow through on taking responsibility for the action or changing it well, that remains to be seen. But we need to understand that guilt is a very polarizing emotion. One day we feel good because we made a healthy choice, we ate well, we did not eat the extra cookie or have that cupcake, and the next day we're bad because we indulged. We did eat the Dorito bag, we skipped the gym. Have you ever told yourself that? Have you ever heard that voice in your head saying, oh, I was bad yesterday because I ate that or, oh, look how good I'm being today. I got my workout in? That kind of self-judgment is destabilizing. It ties our worth to our actions and teaches us that love and belonging and value are conditional. Over time, this pattern can cause guilt to morph into shame, and that's a key distinction. Guilt says I did something bad, shame says I am bad. Today we're focusing on guilt, not to demonize it, but to understand its purpose and its power.
Speaker 1:One of the books that I've recommended when it comes to chakral exploration is by Anadeya Judith Well, actually, two of the books that I've recommended when it comes to chakral exploration is by Anadeya Judith Well, actually, two of the books are and she reminds us that guilt is a teacher when it guides us, but a demon when it binds us. Just think about that for a second. Take it in Guilt is a teacher when it guides us, but a demon when it binds us. What she means is guilt is an invitation to reflect on our actions, to grow and to course correct. It can motivate us to take accountability, avoid future harm, repair relationships. In that way it serves a positive function, a positive purpose, just as all emotions do, even the ones that we deem quote unquote negative.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes guilt shows up to help us feel safe, connected or accepted, by driving us to please others or adhere to societal norms. It can be a way to belong, to feel in control or even to feel righteous. But let's be honest, it can also be a way to keep ourselves small, trapped and bound by old programming. The danger comes when guilt becomes chronic, internalized and toxic. It can start to distort our sense of self, block our joy and disconnect us from our inherent worth. It's the illusion that we've lost our divinity through our actions. But here's the truth we never lose the spark of the divine. We may lose our way, but we never lose our light.
Speaker 1:Healing guilt doesn't mean ignoring it. It doesn't mean that we disregard that we've done something wrong, something hurtful or harmful, whether it's to others or to ourselves. Healing guilt means cultivating an ability to listen to it with discernment, being able to recognize when it's guiding us and when it's binding us. You are not a better person because you feel guilt or because you fear guilt, or because you feel guilty all the time. No, you become a better person. You come back to wholeness when you learn how to be moved by guilt, how to allow your guilt to be infused with love and purpose and compassion, when you make guilt a useful emotion. We need to reframe guilt not as a punishment, but as a call back to alignment, as a tool, a feedback signal that helps us reestablish ourselves in the flow of truth, integrity and wholeness. So one of the ways we can work with guilt and learn from it is to examine the forces that influence our actions at the time we did the thing.
Speaker 1:So some examples let's say you were a child who did really poorly in school. You didn't get good grades, you were constantly in detention, that sort of thing, and you feel really guilty, even as an adult, for how kind of poorly you showed up for your education. Well, how volatile was your home life? Was your home life a complete mess? How did that influence your ability to show up for your education?
Speaker 1:What if you are now a very needy person. Self-described, or your friends describe you as being a very needy person. You need a lot of attention, whatever. Well, what needs of yours weren't met in the past? Right, have you been in a situation where you consistently find your needs not being met? Is that driving the quote unquote neediness? What if you are a person who is always the one who ends the relationship? You've never been, you know, broken up with? You're always the one doing the breaking up. Well, is it because there's a fear of being abandoned? Bender to be the one to leave than to be the one left? This is what we mean when we say that it's important to kind of examine what were the forces, what are the forces that influenced you to act the way you did or do?
Speaker 1:So I want to give you some questions to examine something that you might feel guilty about. I always caution people whenever I lead this in like a group workshop or whatnot, that when you do something like this for the first time, do not use what I call a quote unquote Mount Everest moment. So, not the thing you feel most guilty about, your worst action ever. Don't use that. Pick something small, like feeling guilty that you missed one of your son's soccer practices or forgot to send a card for a friend's birthday, because that literally just happened. And later on that night I saw one of those speeches that an athlete was giving who won some sort of award. And of course they say and I'm so thankful for my mom, who never missed a single practice which automatically made me wince. So I'm going to use that. But you, you might want to pause here and just get whatever you want to think about firmly in mind and then hit play again as we go through the following questions. Okay, let's do this.
Speaker 1:Question number one put the guilty behavior in context. So what were the forces acting on you at the time In the example of me, in the soccer practice that I missed, I was swamped, my day had gone completely sideways. I had a deadline. I wasn swamped. My day had gone completely sideways. I had a deadline I wasn't ready for, I had a brewing migraine and my allergies were absolutely killing me.
Speaker 1:Question number two examine the motives, drives and needs underlying your behavior. What were you trying to satisfy or accomplish? Well, I was trying to get my work done so that I could both do the bedtime routine with the kid and get to bed at a reasonable time for myself. Plus, I wanted to give the migraine meds a moment to kick in so that I could do anything at all and I really wanted to avoid being outside because the allergies were so bad and I knew it was going to make them worse. So this is an interesting one for me because, honestly, it wasn't. I didn't do sports to know what I was bad at, what I needed to work on, so that she could get on my case to do things better. Interesting Okay, that just gave me an aha moment.
Speaker 1:I did go to soccer practice last night and my husband, who was an athlete who played soccer, he was giving my son some points during the water breaks, some suggestions, and I found myself getting, like progressively more agitated and I just realized why, like I have this worry that constructive feedback is going to shut my kid down, that, even though I intellectually understand that my husband is saying it very lovingly, my son is receiving the information very well and like ran back out onto the field and did the thing my husband suggested and it worked, and he looked back and gave my husband like two thumbs up, so like, clearly this is a very healthy dynamic, but I was so overcorrected as a child and perfectionism became such a really destructive trait of mine that I, like, have a hair trigger about it and I started to get worried that my son was going to have that same kind of perfectionist programming. Interesting, I'll have to share that with my husband and that'll explain why I was a little bit cranky last night. But anyway, thank you, thank you for listening to me sort that out in my head. I'm such a verbal processor. Sometimes just talking it out helps me understand. So I know that was a bit of a digression, so let's get back on track. Okay, so that was question three.
Speaker 1:Question four See how your underlying needs can be more directly and appropriately filled. Okay, so for me. Well, in this case I think it's just time management, also doing all of my allergy mitigation protocols more consistently. That's what comes to mind. All right. Number five take stock of any harm caused and find ways of making amends. Okay, so in my case I did that a little preemptively. I did ask my son if it would be okay for me to miss and he said he was fine with it. But I can always follow up now and ask him like, how did that feel? Was it okay or did it bother you later?
Speaker 1:Generally, though, if you're not sure how to make amends, you can usually just ask, like ask the person that you wronged A little bit harder when it's yourself. You know when you've wronged yourself. For instance, you know when you ate the thing you weren't supposed to eat, when you ate that extra cookie. I don't know why I'm obsessed with cookies today, but say you ate the extra cookie. I don't know why I'm obsessed with cookies today, but say you ate the extra cookie. Well then you can talk to yourself. Okay, how can I make amends to myself for doing that? I don't know, maybe you don't buy cookies for a week, or you, you know, heap an extra serving of vegetables on your plate. I don't know. I don't know what it would be for you, but something like that. But back to making amends.
Speaker 1:Listen to episode 18. That one is about forgiveness and giving or receiving an apology that you never got, and it'll give you some more ideas for this particular step. Okay, step number six I'll review all of these at the end. Step number six make a plan for a new behavior. So for me, it'll be based on how my son responds when I ask if it really did bother him or not. Maybe I don't need to feel guilty about missing a practice or two. Maybe that's fine. And if it's not, then I need to once again retool my schedule and make sure that on those days that he has practice, no matter what that he has practiced, no matter what. That's the priority. Okay, number seven forgive yourself and move on.
Speaker 1:Easier said than done, sometimes, right? Sometimes we hold on to guilt forever. I mean, even after the person we've wronged forgives us. Even after, you know, years have passed, we look back on an action that we've done that maybe just hurt us and we have a hard time forgiving ourselves for that. And if that's the case, then self-forgiveness, self-compassion, should really be on our quote-unquote need-to-learn-this to-do list. Don't worry, we'll talk about it a bit next week when we talk about our programming regarding how we feel about ourselves. And if we don't get to it, then I'm sure we'll talk more about it as we move on. Because you know the self-compassion, self-forgiveness concept. It is crucial for our ability to grow. I believe it is Leland Van de Waal who said the degree to which a person can grow is directly proportional to the amount of truth he can accept about himself without running away, and it's very hard to face difficult truths about ourselves if we don't then follow that up with some self-compassion and self-forgiveness.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I'm going to run down the questions just one more time, just in order, with nothing else. Here we go. Number one put the guilty behavior in context. Number two examine the motives, drives and needs underlying your behavior. What were you trying to satisfy or accomplish? Number three look for ways that the behavior might have been modeled for you. Number four see how your underlying needs can be more directly and appropriately filled. Number five take stock of any harm caused and find ways of making amends. Number six make a plan for new behavior. Number seven forgive yourself and move on. That is all for today. Just a reminder.
Speaker 1:These episodes are not meant to cover every angle of a topic. They're short. There's no way we could. So, of course, this isn't everything you need to know or understand about guilt. It's just one piece of the puzzle, it's just one thing to think about in regards to guilt. And be easy on yourself as you contemplate something you feel guilty about. Like, do I need to say this again? Don't feel like you need to do it alone, Even if it's just talking it out with your best friend, with the one person in the world who knows what you're feeling guilty about. Be supported, allow yourself to be loved. If you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to click the message me button if you're listening on Spotify, or you can always send an email to rootsoftherise at gmailcom. And don't forget to follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and remember, know who you are, love who you've been and be willing to do the work to become who you want to be.
