The past doesn’t exist as if on some film strip that can be viewed objectively from the present. It exists only in our minds. Therefore, the past is highly subjective. We can alter it as we please for our benefit.
We all have past regrets. We wonder what our lives would be like if only we had ____, or if only we hadn’t ____. I won’t say the usual, that it’s pointless to focus on our regrets because they’re in the past and we can’t change the past. Although it’s true, it’s usually not helpful. Plus, we can change the past.
Since the past only exists in our minds, and our minds are composed of our thoughts and beliefs, and we can change our thoughts and beliefs, we can change the past.
No, we can’t change the objective fact that someone is dead, or that we lost a limb. But we can transform regrets into blessings by redirecting the energy wasted on our regrets to the achievement of personal happiness, whatever that might mean for each of us as individuals.
No one can tell us what will make us happy. No one has our life experience and no one knows us as well as we do. It’s our responsibility as individuals, and although it may take more work for some than others, each of us is fully capable of the feat, regardless of our circumstances.
And when we do achieve happiness, which is inevitable if it becomes our main focus, those past regrets transform into blessings because each one, no matter how traumatic it was at the time, led us exactly to where we are now: a happy life.
When we shift our focus from our regrets to a thought that makes us happy, just for a few seconds or a few minutes, when we do the things we enjoy and avoid the things we don’t, over and over and over again, we arrive at a place of happiness. There’s no other possibility. And when we’re there, we’ll be thankful for every event in our lives, even though at one time we may have viewed them through the greasy, scratched goggles of regret.