There are times in life that upon reflecting on our past actions, we may become embroiled in regret. We may wallow for days or have our mistakes replaying on a torturing loop in our minds. In these times when we are stuck in a pit of regret, it is important to remember that though they may have greatly impacted our current reality, our past choices do not define us.
Regret, as with all emotions, comes up to provide us with feedback and information about our mortal existence [as it relates to our Spiritual development]. And when regret makes an appearance, it is to let us know that there was a better choice that could have been made in the past. However, it does us no good to let our thoughts and our day-to-day life become consumed with regret either. All that this emotion asks of us is to evaluate and consider how we could have done things differently. Once we learn from the error of our ways, regret calls for us to either take the steps to rectify our past mistakes or to simply learn from them, to let it go, and to keep moving forward with the determination not to make the same regretful choices again.
So let us release our younger, naive selves from condemnation for not knowing better in the past — but let us hold our wiser and more mature selves accountable for those past choices in the present day. And let us learn from our regret without becoming consumed by it by acknowledging, growing, reparating, and then letting go.
