The process of learning to love life is one which involves the detoxification of elements which hinder your personal growth. Many people believe they are happy and fully content with it all, but when you peel back some the layers of the surface, they hare hoarding feelings deeply seeded in past regret.
How do we move past regret? The truth is regret originates from the growth process itself. With time and experience, we gain the knowledge and wisdom, which creates feelings of anxiety over past decisions today. I call that the “what if” syndrome. We often say “what if I had done that, what if I stayed in that relationship, what if I had stayed at that job or what if I could find that person”. The truth is those ‘what ifs’ are taking up precious time in your life.
Learning to let go of the past is difficult, I understand, but it is essential. You must trust your past decisions as they were at that time regardless of how you have reevaluated the situation in the present. The decisions we made in the past help us to grow and understand our mistakes. When you made a decision over a decade ago, you cannot rebirth the outcome. Learn to accept the outcome as a lesson that has enhanced your life in a positive way regardless of how you view its effect.
In the present, stay away from the elements that serve as the source of your regret from the past. For example, if you let your brother borrow $500 from you ten years ago and he never paid you back, if he asks you today to borrow $500 today, would you let him borrow the money? The past experience has shaped the way you think today. Today, you make conscious decisions that will not create the same result as those in the past. Why? Because your past has shaped your thought process for you avoid the same outcome. You can face situations with confidence and create effective plans based upon experience.
But in the future, the reality is you must prepare for change and further growth. Take a moment to evaluate the outcome of today’s decisions and its potential effect on your future. In the scenario provided, if you lend your brother another $500, do you think he will pay you back? Do you think that it will cause conflict in the future if he did not pay back the debt? Do you think that he will wait another ten years to borrow more money? The choice is yours.
Your past is the past and there is nothing that can change past circumstances, however, learning how to overcome past regret is the key to developing a healthy mindset which will allow you to experience growth in every aspect of your life. And remember, now is the time to leap out on faith and dare to live out your dreams…..
Continued Prosperity!
I am a serial entrepreneur who is committed to working with others to dream big and give up the idea of a ‘can’t do’ mentality. By the age of 26, I was operating my first business out of my living room. I learned the art of networking, marketing and life skills by surrounding myself with people who represented success and the principles that I was seeking. I eliminated all of the negative forces that gave up on my vision and created an inner circle of winners. Today, I carry these same principles throughout every aspect of my life and I am committed to coaching others who are ‘pregnant’ with a dream on how to transition in to the birthing process. I live by the principle that it is time to leap out on faith and dream big!