In the mind there is a door that leads to a secret room where regrets are stored.
It’s said, “Don’t open that door.”
Sometimes the curious nature of humans causes the door to be opened just a little bit.
What happens then is chaos and utter misery.
I say, “Open that damn door and let the regrets be Free.”
Without negative energy, regrets become life lessons learned,
And simply blow away in the breeze.
When there is no more and the quiet replaces the noise of living, what is, or was the essence of life?
Did all the arguments and hatred really have a place in our life? All the worrying, stress, and struggling. Was it necessary?
The quiet of death speaks loudly to the living, but will we listen and pay attention to the message for more than a few minutes?
The lessons of life are all around, urging us to love deeply, be happy, laugh, and feel more joy and kindness toward ourselves and others. We hear whispering in our ear to live our best life, and sadly, we think we are.
All our earthly goods, and who our egos say we are, mean nothing. In the quiet thought of when there is no more, the true essence of our life will be found.
“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”
~ Rabindranath Tagore
Clouds are constantly changing, and so is our life. The secret is knowing how to flow with change. The way to flow is to live in the moments of life, and live in them fully. No second guessing and no looking back at mistakes or what could have been. Our past is full of lessons learned, and some very painful. We also can’t predict the future, because like the clouds, it is always changing shape.
Learn to give to yourself as much as you give to others. Never let yourself become depleted. People will come and go but you will remain until the end. Believe and invest in yourself as you flow as free as the clouds.
“It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are… than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
We all experience frustration; maybe some of us more than others. But from time to time, it’s bound to happen, and it’s not pleasant. It can be caused by small things and big things, and by having expectations, and holding on for dear life what we want to achieve. Sometimes we are just too hard on ourselves.
“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” ~ Confucius
I’ve been frustrated lately dealing with a cat that has a chronic illness. This is a middle-aged outdoor cat that the humans in her life have let down. She chose my husband and me to save her. We weren’t prepared to take on the care of an animal, but here we are. It’s been expensive, interrupted sleep, and medication issues. It has pretty much consumed us. Some people would think this is a silly thing to be frustrated about, and compared to so many other things like dealing with a sick child, or other human, or financial problems, it’s pretty minor. But like I said before, frustration comes with small and big issues. It doesn’t matter what the cause is. What matters is feeling frustrated is not a good way to be living.
I found that I wasn’t flexible with my goals concerning this little cat, and my expectations were too high. So I took a deep breath and said to myself: “Let go and step back, and let things flow.” Every time I feel frustrated I say this to myself and actually visualize letting go and stepping back. Since I’ve been doing this, I am feeling more balanced and not so consumed by this little being. She appears to be doing better, and actually enjoys spending time indoors. The holistic medication and new diet are also starting to work for her.
I believe that life is all about the lessons we need to learn. I think this cat is in my life to help me learn not to be so intense; slow down and just relax and trust the life force that’s inside of me. So I only got one dose of the medication in her. Start fresh tomorrow. There’s just so much you can do with cats and their attitudes. It’s the same with people. Inside every frustration there is a lesson waiting.
When we let go and take a step back we make space for clarity, and new ideas form showing a better way. If you’re feeling frustrated, ask yourself what lesson you need to learn and then to help things along try letting go, stepping back, and see how free and clear your thoughts become.
“Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know.” ~ Pema Chodron
Those really horrible times caused by hateful people in your life, be thankful for it all because the people and the pain you went through taught you the best lessons: Forgiveness, and that you are worth and deserve so much more.
The beautiful days and kind people all around you, be grateful for it all because without those days, and special people, life would be dull without the sparkle.
When tragedy and sadness invade, hold on tight with the knowledge that you will get through it all. Don’t let the joy of living rush out the door. You will learn that you are stronger than you ever imagined, and you will know for sure what is really important in your life.
Every day is filled with learning lessons about yourself and life. Some of it is hard and hurts to the core. Embrace it all and say, Thank You, for the rich journey you are traveling on.
I would like to say thank you to all my wonderful friends here at WordPress. Thank you for all your support. I am grateful and appreciate each and every one of you!
Live for today and tomorrow will take care of itself. That sounds like good advice as long as you are not foolish and reckless, but mindful instead. Living each day with the purpose of actually showing up and not thinking about tomorrow or trying to replay the mistakes of yesterday is a goal we should all strive for. We don’t have to do great things each day, but we should try to enjoy each day as it comes along.
It’s true not all our todays are pleasant ones. Sometimes they are actually horrible and stressful, but that doesn’t mean that we should discount them. Every day we get is a day that belongs to only us and a day that we are here on planet Earth. Even if it isn’t the best of days we should embrace it and show up the best we can. When our horrible today slips into the past of yesterday we need to let it go and never look back. We then need to welcome our new present today and maybe it will just be a much better day.
In letting the previous day leave take a moment and see if there was a lesson to be learned, or wisdom to take in. In doing this no day goes away without preparing us for all the future days to come. Also, once you do this with the exiting day there will never be a need to hang onto the past. You will be able to just let it go and die off. And die it should because as you already know, if you don’t let the past go there is no way that you can truly live for today.
“Yesterday is ashes.
Tomorrow is green wood.
Only today does the fire burn brightly.”
– Eskimo Saying
Are you doing it again? You know, that thing where you kick yourself for all the horrible mistakes you made in the past. The operative word here is PAST. You realize that you can’t do a thing about all that stuff that happened in the good old past, right? I hope so. But I had a conversation with a friend that has decided to take a trip back there and try to relive decisions she made and figure out all the whys of her decisions. Friends, that just doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because the who you were in the past is not the who you are now.
“Your past mistakes are meant to guide you, not define you.”
~ Unknown
Sometimes in life doing your best becomes your absolute worst. Why? Because you can only give what you have and sometimes you’re just out of stock. During these times your best is your worst. But don’t be so hard on yourself because you did do your best. As a person grows and matures the decisions they made in the past probably are not the decisions they would make today.
So, you out there, stop doing this to yourself. Look back at your past and the bad decisions and realize it was you then and not now. View the past as a learning experience — and that goes for the past mistake you just made a few minutes ago. It got your attention and you have learned your lesson. Come on, move on down that highway and forgive yourself.
Hey, this is you now, and you are giving it your very best.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes for getting through this life:
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
~ Lao Tzu
A lot of things have happened in your past–some good and some not so good. And it stands to reason that those long ago decisions you regret making in your youth you want to forget or hide away, but don’t. Learn to embrace everything in your past because your past holds the key for the who you are today and the who you’ll become tomorrow.
Your journey is a rapid one, and you will make miscalculations along the way, but don’t sweat it because it’s going to happen anyway. Don’t berate yourself, just chalk it up to the lessons you had to learn. Remind yourself that all bad decisions are as much a part of your journey as all the good ones; embrace who you are.
The past is gone, so don’t dwell there. Realize that all that you have experienced is what has given you the richness and texture of your character, and how wonderful that character is. Without all the good and the bad, you just wouldn’t be you.
Look down from the mountain of life and see how far you have come, and realize that you made it despite the missteps. Now look up and see all that is waiting just for you. Celebrate your life’s journey–even the crappy times and trust in yourself. This is your journey friends, and it might be the only one you’ll ever get, so do it your way and be all used up when you get to the end.
Every line, every scar in or out, and every inch of body art is the who you are. Stand up, be proud, embrace it all!
Regrets, we all have them, but what to do with them is a problem. They sit in our minds organized in little neat folders with all kinds of fancy labels. They sit there just waiting for the right time to make our lives miserable, and our egos are ready to help us out by ushering those regrets right out of their folders and into our hearts.
We could put those regrets in a box and use heavy-duty tape to seal them away, but they have the strength to break any kind of tape, and find their way right back into our filing system. We could send them out to sea, but instead of getting lost they would just wash up on the shore. And don’t forget, regrets have a habit of multiplying and intensifying.
There is only one way to handle regrets and that is by facing them and realizing that they are really just lessons that we have learned along the way. For some reason we have a hard time viewing them as lessons and want to make them so much more, but they’re not. I’m sure the ego has a hand in this because it’s so important for the ego to keep us in constant turmoil. If we could actually create a happy peaceful life for ourselves then the ego would have no place, and it fears that.
When a regret sneaks in to torture you, don’t let it drag you back and make you relive the horror all over again. Instead, acknowledge it and say, “I see you and have learned my lesson.” Then really let that regret go away forever, because if you don’t, it will just come back again. Do this every time a regret makes an appearance.
Life is full of lessons that have all kinds of names, but in the end, everything is just a lesson hopefully you have learned. Some of your lessons are painful and really hard and those will be the ones you will hold onto, but don’t because that creates a regret. Clutter anywhere makes it hard to move around, so do a deep cleaning and see how much more at peace you will be.
The one regret you don’t ever want is to ever have wasted your time on any regrets in the first place.
Breathe deep and live your life free.
Life as a Garden 