U of W Scientists Say Guilt Can Be Good Don’t Meditate it Away
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Meditation And Guilt
The Church Cautions For Prayer
What Is Mindfulness Meditation
EurekAlert defines Mindfulness Meditation as:
stress-management practice started in ancient times and cultivates nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment, often by directing attention to the physical sensations of breathing. It’s also a popular practice lately-- part of the self-care movement
What's interesting is that U of W scientists found that this "mindful-type meditating" can reduce feelings of guilt. What's bad about that? Guilt helps us "navigate social situations and maintain relationships"..so if there's no guilt, there's potentially no (or less) governing of what would normally be guilt-producing bad or unpleasant or unproductive behavior. Researchers call it "relaxing the moral compass."
The Experiment Yields Results
Quick example - Two groups each faced with a disagreement that required some kind of monetary reparation or compensation. Both groups meditate.
they listened to either an eight-minute guided mindfulness meditation recording that instructed them to focus on the physical sensations of breathing -or- an eight-minute control condition recording in which they were instructed to let their minds wander....the mindfulness recording participants reported feeling less guilt compared to those in the mind-wandering control group. Those with mindful meditation offered 17% less (because of less guilt) than the other group
"These and three other, similar experiments established that mindfulness meditation reduces the tendency to make amends for harming others."
Some fascinating details about the kind of experiments used in the research can be found HERE.