Someone asked a group of people this question: If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be? Most of the responses were ‘marriage’, ‘financial status’, ‘family’, ‘nationality’, and ‘past life’.  Someone even said “my whole life”. That’s like a life that is a total package of regrets. Is living without regrets possible?

Really, maybe life would be a lot easier for some of us if we could command it with a keyboard. Just consider your life in retrospect; starting from where you are today and where you would have been or what you would be doing now if only you knew as much as you know now or if only you knew things would turn out this way. Mistakes, wrong choices, regrets and so on. Now, just plug your life to a computer system. Think back to the time you had not made that mistake, then simply press CTRL+Z (undo) on the keyboard  and pheew… you are back to the time when you had not made the mistake(s). Wow! That would be awesome, right? A life without regrets. Everyone would like that.

Unfortunately, such things only exist in science fiction movies. In real life, even amnesia would not undo what you have done. Everything remains the same except your memory.

The Good News

There is good news however. True, we are not able to wave a magic wand to undo the past but there is still a formula to make you live on without regrets. This formula won’t make you forget what happened but will help you feel better and even live better. It will also help you shift those mistakes behind you and help you move on with your life without the pains or regrets of the past eating you up. It worked for me and not just me, for so many other people.

Before I talk about the formula, let us quickly get something straight here. Some people think it is wrong to live without regrets. That’s simply because they have a twisted view of what the word ‘REGRET’ truly means. They claim regrets make you learn lessons from the past. I beg to disagree.

Regret here, is not just about feeling sorry for something that happened. That is more like a verb. For instance I say “I regret any inconvenience this might have caused you.” I’m simply saying I’m sorry. But regret as a noun here is something much deeper which anyone should not be comfortable with. I am talking about a settled pain in the heart that breeds on you constantly looking back at the past with an aversion or bitterness and longing to go back there and fix things. It is not a way to live. So the next time someone tells you to live with regrets, shout a big ‘NO!’ Yes, learn from your mistakes but No, you should not dwell on them.

Now let’s go back to the formula of living a life without regrets.

The formula is ‘CHANGE YOUR REACTION’. In my next post, I will explain how. Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this post, I hope you share with others. Follow the Priceless Journal on Facebook and twitter and join our community for great discussions you may not get here.

Subscribe to my newsletter for updates on new posts.

For prayers and counselling, we are just an email away.