How To Deal With Regret

Sometimes I ask myself – “do you feel like you should be different? Or act differently? Or feel differently?”

I don’t know if everyone asks himself or herself the same questions. Maybe you can quell my thoughts in the comments section below.

Recently, I’ve come to a realization. Everything that I have been through – the ups, the downs, the struggles and turmoil and everything in between – have made me the person I am today.

Regret is insignificant. No matter how hard we try, at this very moment, nothing about the past can be undone.

Regret is backward thinking

When you look to the past for answers, you are fighting an uphill battle. You desperately struggle as you battle the ravaging tides and the harsh winds.

Eckhart Tolle believes your egoic won’t let the past go because it needs it to feel alive. Your egoic mind wants to feel significant so it latches onto the past.

It keeps you living and thinking backward. It holds you in a troubled state. Your relationships, your work, and worst of all, yourself, crumble as you’re suspended in ‘regret thought-processes.’

The more you dwell in the past, the stronger your egoic mind grows. Like a feral animal, the more meat you give, the more it wants.

Present is forward-thinking

This very moment is all we have left. This very moment is the only one that can be changed, cherished and adored.

Even as write this, moments pass. The less I regret, the less I dwell, the more seamlessly the present moment passes.

There is little time to regret. In this very moment, there is only time to be content.

Be grateful that you are alive and breathing. Be content with the ability to think clearly and feel wholly.

Any room for future thinking?

Future thinking will also ruin you. Future thinking is just as toxic as regret.

Currently the future does not matter. Even as you begin to say the word fu-ture that first syllable is forever lost in the past.

That syllable should be let go, just as the future should.

The Love Exercise

There is no room for regret in this moment. Instead, spend a little time just being. Spend some time appreciating the person you are – maybe it’s your hair, eyes, or your brain.

Or pat yourself on the back for a small win – maybe it’s your first day sticking to a new diet or maybe you made it an entire day without having a cigarette.

This is an exercise I frequently do to avoid regret. The idea occurred to me after reading Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It by Kamal Ravikant.

He was at the point of killing himself because of all the common pressures that plague us – lack of love, security, support and freedom – until one day he decided to look into the mirror and say “I love you” over and over again.

He cured himself through positive reinforcement. I find that the same works with regret. Spend time today, and every single day, to giving yourself trying the Love Exercise.

Soon you will regret less and your egoic mind will detach. You will begin to love the person you are. You will begin to appreciate the present moment.

I wish nothing but amazing vibes to all our readers. I know whatever plagues you – whether regret, pain, or the future – you will overcome it.

And if you need a little push along the way, 2HelpfulGuys is here for anything.

Until next time my beautiful readers,

Be bold, be free and love on.

Throwing away regrets

I get love from everyone I meet.

I don’t mean to sound egotistical but for my whole life most people have just generally liked me.

It’s probably just because I like 99% of people I meet. If you like someone, they are a lot more likely to like you to some extent.
It puts an asterisk beside your name at the least.

I receive and give love to some extent with most people in my life, and it is part of what drives me everyday. It keeps me in a positive mood and gives me more energy.

Honestly, I owe my life to the people who just give me a smile, a moment of their time, a laugh.

It hurts so much to lose part of that when I wrong someone I care about.

I’ve done it a million times. I have cheated, lied, back-stabbed, and done it all over again.

I’ve lost friends. I’ve lost lovers. Every time, I lose a piece of what makes me happy.

So I sit. I sit down and regret everything. I think about it all in my mind. I picture it and apologize.
No one hears.

I just feel empty when I think about these things. Even after so much time, if I think about it, it drains my energy.

Then I start thinking about all the energy that I have spent wondering, regretting, or analyzing the past. This is all energy I could have spent making a better future, or even just a content present.

I have decided that I will not let the mistakes I have made in the past affect my future.

 

The only way to show respect to the people I have wronged, is to learn from it.

The only problem is, in order for me to do this, I have to throw away the memories.
Maybe I’m a coward.

I can never think back to these memories and avoid that empty feeling of regret. Maybe that is something I will learn in time.

For now I will throw them away. All my opinions, all the wondering, the regret, the hate.

And just maybe when I’ve learned in time, I can revisit these memories, and only see the little piece of love we shared.