How to Live Without Regrets

How to Live Without Regrets

There is one simple reason I have few if any regrets about the years when my children were small. I was a calligrapher long before I was an essential oil distributor or a manufacturer of Terra Cotta Pendants or a blogger/writer!

We lived on the main road of the town in a house where we had converted the dining room into my calligraphy studio. On the wall hung many framed pieces, among them a poem by Alice E. Chase; To My Grown-Up Son. I saw it from my desk. I saw it whenever I walked to the front door or past it to the living room or upstairs. I lettered it for many customers.

The poem’s message sank into deep into my consciousness.

It reminded me of what was important. I could have easily become caught up in my work but always a glance at that poem would make me aware me of the two little ones who needed my attention and time. It was the last stanza which impressed me most of all.

“My hands once busy, now lie still,
The days are long and hard to fill,
I wish I might go back and do,
The little things you asked me to.”

I don’t believe in having regrets. It’s like taking a stick and beating yourself up with it. Why would we want to do that?

Years ago I had a visit with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. I asked her what she had learned since I’d seen her last. She said she had learned that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have to get what they want. The best they can? Where in there is room for regret? Sometimes we are tired or stressed and not as resourceful as at other times which means our best is not always the best it can be but it is the best we have at the time.

We can’t do anything to change the past but we can change the future. How do we ensure that we live without regrets?

  1. We shine our light on the things we want and stop focusing on the absence of the things we’ve lost or never had. The idea here helps me to do that. We can only really think one thought at a time. Let’s busy our minds with gratitude and awareness of the wonderful things in our lives.
  2. We maintain an awareness of how powerful our thoughts are at creating our lives, as Dr. Joe Dispenza explains here.

Have you been able to live your life so far without regrets? Are there any regrets you’ve managed to come to peace with? How did you do that? How do you plan to live the coming year without regrets?

Photo credit: Rachel Kramer

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About The Author


I have always loved writing and community building. I’ve written a book about healing and happiness, The Happy Place, as well as a Community Building book, Sounding the Drum: Community Building in the Digital Age,both available at any Amazon store. I’ve been through life changes that I thought were the end of my world, but I’m still here. You never know what will happen next. Isn’t that what makes life interesting?