kaihantech@gmail.comValuable Article No. 6
Self-Worth — Session 9
Guilt and Its Impact on Our Sense of Self-Worth, Happiness, and Life
Date: August 17, 2026
Dr. Zahra Khezri
Psychologist and Counselor for Personal Development in All Areas of Life
Take this article seriously and deeply explore yourself. Look within yourself and discover what feelings of guilt you are carrying and in which areas of your life these feelings exist.
When you carry guilt—which is a very powerful emotion—you cannot truly love yourself or be happy.
I learned to be my own friend and to be kind to myself. As a result, I became much better at letting go of feelings of guilt.
Some of these feelings may come from incorrect religious beliefs, or perhaps from mistakes we made in the past toward ourselves or others. We may begin to believe that God no longer loves us.
People may learn from their families and religious leaders that, for example, if they make a mistake, they are no longer worthy or valuable. And this can cause us to push happiness and joy away from ourselves.
We grew up in a religious country and in a religious family where we were told that we had to wear the hijab and that even our hair should not be visible. My mother would constantly tell us that God would hang us by our hair and that we would become distant from God.
While God is extremely kind and forgiving and wants us to protect ourselves from destructive feelings, because feelings of guilt can actually distance us from God.
My mother would insist, sometimes through arguments, that we had to worship and pray. Because the prayers were in Arabic, I did not feel connected to God while praying because I did not understand the meaning of the words. As a result, I felt extremely guilty.
Religion can sometimes make you feel guilty about many things. In our family, there was always a feeling of guilt. If you became friends with a boy or had a relationship, you were told that you had become distant from God.
Later, I learned from my teacher, Abbas Manesh, that it is not necessarily this way. If we make mistakes, whether they are small or big, we should ask God for forgiveness and, at the same time, forgive ourselves.
In our religious environment, dancing and music were considered very sinful. As girls, we wanted to paint our nails, but we were extremely afraid of our parents. We would sometimes do these things away from their eyes because we wanted to enjoy ourselves, but at the same time, we felt extremely guilty.
Remember: when you create feelings of guilt in yourself, in other people, and in your children, you may actually cause yourself and your children to make even more mistakes.
We can experience guilt for many different reasons when we believe that we have behaved incorrectly.
When we work on ourselves, we learn that one of the first steps in self-discovery is to release the issues of the past and stop carrying them with us.
A common pattern among people struggling with addiction is that they cannot forgive themselves and experience intense guilt about the mistakes they have made. Substance use can lead them into even more harmful behaviors. Some may engage in prostitution or even put their spouse in situations they would never otherwise accept, simply to obtain drugs.
These behaviors create even more guilt, and eventually they may begin to believe that they deserve the worst punishment.
Even after these individuals become free from substances, they may continue to feel guilty because of their past behaviors.
My Experience With Feelings of Guilt
During my Australian work project, a person entered my life through a friend. He claimed to have a PhD in agriculture and asked me to help him provide workers for Australia.
I continued without properly investigating the situation and without listening to the advice of lawyers who were our friends.
As a result, this person took all of my money and my clients’ money, and it became clear that everything he had presented was completely unreal.
I was the person who had to answer to all of my clients and, beyond that, to the law.
But, thank God, during this period I had been working on my sense of self-worth. I was kind to myself, and I courageously apologized to all of my clients and to the authorities.
Accepting responsibility for my mistake and forgiving myself allowed the world around me to become calmer and kinder toward me. I was then able to focus on earning money and returning the money to my clients with love.
It was unbelievable.
When I accepted responsibility for my mistake and asked God for help and guidance, the very people who had strongly criticized me and called me every day eventually stopped calling me. They could not make decisions for me, and everyone became kinder toward me—because I had become kinder toward myself.
If this situation happened to another person, they might have been completely destroyed by it. But I never stopped being grateful to God.
I also never blamed my business partner. I forgave him and chose to look at the situation positively.
I knew that this situation, or this challenge, would help me grow, progress, and become stronger.
So, stay away from unnecessary feelings of guilt and be kind to yourself, so that the world can become kinder toward you.
Dr. Zahra Khezri
Psychologist and Counselor for Personal Development in All Areas of Life
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