Ways to Benefit and Move Forward
We all have hopes and dreams of what we have wanted to accomplish in life, yet most of the time your life is not quite the picture you painted for yourself. Missing out on life and opportunities can create personal discontent, depression and often isolation. The list of things you haven’t done can be compelling and overwhelm you.
Then you might realize something: You are not that person anymore, and in another second, you will again be someone new. Letting go of the weight of past regrets gives you a better chance of becoming who you want to be today.
What you can do…
Identify and address your weaknesses.
Accept that everyone makes mistakes and then focus on what you can do differently going forward.
Use your mistakes as teaching tools.
If you forgive yourself and bounce back, you can help empower your children to respond in the same way.
Use the opportunity to become better at adapting.
Big mistakes can present instant changes to reality as you know it. Any time you practice adapting, you create the possibility of happiness that doesn’t depend on perfect conditions.
Strengthen your ability to focus on things you can control.
You can’t change that unfortunate outburst you had when something spilled on the floor or cried over breaking your grandmother’s vase. What you should have done is now irrelevant. All you can do is move forward from where you are. Empower yourself to stay positive.
Embrace impermanence.
Everything in life is impermanent. While we’re not thrilled with life when it changes in a negative way, remind yourself to appreciate everyone and everything in the moment.
Evaluate your relationships.
Are your friends there for you, offering forgiveness and support—even if it takes them a little time to get there? Consider the quality of your relationships, remove yourself from an unhealthy one and embrace the nurturing one. We’re all human. Nothing brings us together like acknowledging our universal struggles.
Get better at accepting responsibility.
It’s a risk to admit mistakes. Still, there’s something empowering about saying, “I messed up, and I accept the consequences.”
Challenge your thinking.
“Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction.” If you’ve made a mistake and it propels you toward a better future, then it’s actually a blessing in disguise.
Life is NOW and we always have a choice: Do we drown in regret over what never came to be or use our energy to create what can be? Today, consider choosing the latter.
Inspired by an article @ littlebuddha.com