The Benefits of a Regret-free Life



"...we live now, not yesterday, not tomorrow."

Post written by Harold Maesulia. Follow me on twitter.

I've recently overwhelmed myself thinking about all the mistakes I've done in my life. If I had tried that harder, I thought to myself, I should be a couple of steps up the ladder already. I went as far as trying to locate where the danger button was. I must have pressed it by mistake? Or may be by deliberation, who knows?

I became frustrated after all because revisiting my past just seemed to add weight to the feeling of guilt that was already in me.

But inspirational thoughts from a friend freed me from that guilt. In fact he actually helped me view the idea of regret in another perspective, which I want to share it with you just to free your mind.

To make it simple for you to understand where I'm coming from, do this simple experiment. Wake up tomorrow morning and start your day off thinking about the most regrettable thing you've done the other day, or if you like, over the week or even over the years. Leave out no details. Uproot the detail of how you came to perform that silly act. What time you did it, bringing into light the people you've hurt and perhaps how it sort of spoke badly of you as a person. I bet that by the time you try to think of how you should have avoided it, you'd be feeling kind of low already.

That's exactly where my friend have decided to hit the nail. Each day is a gift. We are supposed not to tie ourselves to the events of yesterday. Although they can be used as a lesson to help us know where things can possibly go wrong, we must never forget that our lives depend on what we do now. The bottom line is we live now, not yesterday, not tomorrow.

Experience the happiness that life can give you by living each day at a time. Don't allow the pressures of yesterday ruin what you're supposed to enjoy today. When you allow the past to become part of your present, you won't be at your best in what ever you do now.

So the secret of retreating from regret is dedicating yourself to your present. Bad encounters do happen in life but we must realize that we are incapable of changing what has already occurred.

Tomorrow may never be ours. Sometimes we allow our minds to wonder about all the mishaps we've done in life. We grieve over the chances we've lost and predict that they'll make our future miserable. But what guarantee do we have that we will still be alive tomorrow?

Make your life simple and more productive by concentrating on what you're doing now. Make it your art to have fun in everything you do each day. Take away yesterday and tomorrow from your mind and totally place yourself in the present. By doing so, you will have more strength and passion to do your daily chores. Even simple duties like brushing your teeth will be performed with a lot of delight.

Removing regret from our lives allows us to enjoy the hobbies we hold dear to our hearts. It makes exercise enjoyable. It takes away the idea that we exercise to look good but instill in us the art of enjoying what we love. It motivates us to do things with passion, because yesterday and tomorrow are not there to pollute our thoughts with their worries. It frees us to be at our best each day. And it nourishes our hearts with an excitement that every new day comes with  Divine freshness.

Take away regret from your life and be motivated as you enjoy the blessings of each day.