7 Guilt-Provoking Thoughts! :

We live in a confessional culture in which it's fashionable to disclose your sexual predilections or your penchant for high colonics. Still, plenty of feelings are suppressed. We expend much mental energy in denying them -- and feel terrible.

A bit of bad feeling can be good . It may prevent us from doing something we'd later regret, such as slapping our kid who's acting up.

So how to cope with the realization that you bitterly resent your successful friends? You can forget about it over time, confess it -- or laugh about it.

Here are seven common guilt-provoking thoughts:

Crippling Anxiety -- "I don't know what to say to her."
Why do so many people react with horror when meeting a person with an obvious deformity or disability? It could be a remnant of our prehistoric past, as mating with a disfigured person could produce deformed offspring less likely to survive. Or disabled people, especially strangers, may remind the rest of us of our own vulnerability and mortality. Even those who don't flinch at the sight of physical deformity may be socially uncomfortable around someone with a handicap, afraid of breaking rules of etiquette -- or looking like a jerk. Feeling guilty about that trip through the drive-thru, that extra slice of cake or the tub of ice cream you ate? Forget about it! Start fresh today and let eDiets show you the way to weight loss! Click here for a free diet profile and get started right away!

Emotional Rubbernecking -- "Funerals can be fun."
You've probably met them at wakes -- the apparently bereft third cousins once-removed, or the weepy friends who neglect to mention they haven't seen the deceased in 10 years. They are emotional rubberneckers, secretly proud to claim an intimate connection to the dead.

People ally themselves with the dead for the same reason they tell fantastic tales: to command attention. The awe and reverence conferred on the newly dead can be ours by association. People also advertise their connection to tragic events such as 9/11 or Kennedy's assassination. And that has redeeming value. It can heighten the communal bond.

Schadenfreude -- "She had it coming to her."
Why do so many people hate Martha Stewart? Can you say "schadenfreude"? It's spiteful delight at seeing someone else flounder. Witnessing a former victor turned washout would seem to leave more opportunity for us -- though Martha was able to rebound nicely after prison.

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