Ah… regret… one of my favorite fictional characters. What do I mean by that? I’m glad you asked!
From my perspective, regret is an illusion. That is to say, it’s a fleeting emotion where we feel compelled to second-guess a decision we have made. Like any other emotion, it’s designed to come and go like the wind through the trees, but for some reason, we grasp it tightly thinking our remorse might magically change the past. Unfortunately, it never does and never will.
Yeah, regrets, I used to have plenty of them in my life. I kept them tucked away in an old shoebox in the back of my mind. Every once in awhile I would open it up and take one out so that I could feel guilty about something that I did or said.
Then, one day, I realized this self inflicted pity party was “invite-only” and since I was the one throwing the party, I simply stopped inviting myself.
Those who revel in their collection of hard-fought regrets will question whether it’s really that easy to jettison these guilty feelings and treat them as a relic of your past. The truth is, and this really is the truth, it’s much easier than you’ve been led to believe.
I can honestly say that I regret nothing in my life, not one thing! I no longer hold on to any of the regrets of my past and I don’t allow regret open passage into the present state of my existence. In other words, it’s a fictional character that simply doesn’t exist in my reality.
Why? How?
Well, my philosophy is, everything happens for a reason, including the things I have no fondness towards and if I am content with the overall shape and texture of my life as a whole, it’s safe to say that my so-called “poor decisions” have played a critical role in the creation of this amazing life.
From this perspective, how could I ever contemplate regretting anything I’ve ever done? The answer is, I can’t. Notice I didn’t say “I won’t” because that implies I’m making a decision not to regret. I said “I can’t” because with a mindset liberated from personal guilt, you literally can’t regret anymore… it’s impossible!
Pretty cool stuff right? Yeah, I thought so too and that’s why I shared it with you. I encourage anyone who’s reading this to give it a try. Just loosen your grip on the current regrets you have in your life and watch them slowly disintegrate in the palm of your open hand.