Attitudes to regrets in life

As a middle-aged man I have now accumulated quite a few regrets in my life as to what I've done or not done over the years. I find it can be quite easy to dwell on them, which doesn't really help my mental state. I think about them less now, deliberately so to protect myself from feeling shit. I think the best lesson I've heard on dealing with regrets is that you can't change the past. Simple advice, but so true. I hope I've learned something from my mistakes, so that I am less likely to repeat them in the future.

How do you handle regrets?

 

I Choose To Ignore Them And Move On With What Is Left Of My Life......



Cheers Glen.

 

I'm like the type of person who makes a mistake, I will probably make it 2 or 3 more times just to be sure. But a mistake is not really a regret for me. I'm not sure I have any regrets that I can really think of, mostly because I try to live my life the way I want to so there aren't any regrets and if there ever were I've got a lot of other stuff to smile about instead.

 

At three years old I realized people are just plain nuts, constantly carrying on about things they know little or nothing about and contradicting themselves. By five, I decided that if there is a God, I would spit in his face and tell him I'm not amused at what he does for entertainment, throwing me into the deep end of the pool without even a flotation device. I swore that I would find the words to make more sense out this fucking disaster we call civilization and, after a lifetime of research, I discovered its all bullshit and even my regrets are all bullshit, because there is only onward and upward. Two steps forward and one back, is simply what it takes to make progress in this universe, because we're all born to fall on our butt, making everyone a natural born clown, and 42 as good as it gets.

I'd still like to spit in God's face, just to see if it can be done.

 

We all make mistakes!
Trust me I am a pro.

Yeah, sometimes I dwell on things but the bottom line is, what can I do about that now?

Learn not to do those things that make me feel bad? Do everything as I feel the need so I don’t regret not doing it later......
Either way I am bound to get it wrong again!

Happy go lucky. Best way to be. I know that’s easier said than done but......

You’re only here once. Might as well have fun.

 

Falling on your ass is your fate, and the question has always been how to avoid falling in the first place, and bounce right back up again.

 

I totally get this!
See that is a professional way to do things.

You’re like, damn, that’s bad.....
Next week, same shit......
Some time passes, you think it over....
Do it again..... 3 out of 3......bad.

Stop.

Next subject.

 

If falling is my fate.....
Nothing can be done to alter its course.

The bouncing is where we must focus!

 

Bouncing is impossible, if you don't know how to avoid falling in the first place. Its not like bouncing gracefully requires you memorize every possible way to fall. Somebody has to actually be paying attention.

 

Fate=outside of my control.
(Can’t do a thing about it)

If bouncing is impossible......
(Which was your suggestion)
How else might one return from the state that fate leads us to.

Nobody knows when they will encounter a problem! Though it’s possible to predict in certain situations, business for example.

 

It is your fate to die, but there's no rush. If you can't figure out how to avoid dying right now, it sucks to be you.

 

There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.

 

If I accidentally get hit by a truck.......
What! How can I prepare for that?

Or terrorism.....
So by you definition it sucks to be alive at all.

I can’t live in fear of the unknown.
To do so would as you say, suck!

@Irminsul I love the terminator movie!

 

Standing in front of a truck

 

It is the nature of the unconscious mind to live in the past or future instead of present moment awareness. As per Hinduism and Buddhism a certain amount of austerity and attentiveness is needed to ensure one is in present moment awareness.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly. - Buddha

All spiritual practices such as meditation, loving service, mindfulness have their goal of ensuring that one is in present moment awareness rather than in the past or future.

Meditation, exercises for increasing prana or chi, vipassana, mantra chanting , observing the breath , study and contemplation of scriptural notes relating to the nature of the mind and stilling it, all help me in ensuring present moment awareness when I find my mind straying to the past or future due to excess of thinking and emoting. A certain amount of bliss and peace is self-generated when the mind is in present moment awareness, and this makes the task easier as you enjoy doing it.

 

You have to look at things in a positive way. You have to make best of what you have and be thankful of that .I always look at my glass being half full rather than half empty .

 

A town near where I live is on a steep hill.
Before they installed escape lanes a truck coming down it suffered brake failure.

At the bottom of the hill It careered into an estate agent building. Almost right the way through, several people were killed sat at there desks.......

Just saying.....
A coach blew a tyre, off the road and into a packed bus stop.....

There are hundreds more examples worldwide I do not doubt it.

 

Whilst on holiday in a bar....
I saw on a chalk board.

Those who wonder whether the glass half full or half empty are missing the point.

The glass is refillable.

 

So true.

 

I learn from my mistakes, I think of them of ways to help others.
Bad things happen to prepare us for the future.