Do you or someone you know feel that your chance of happiness and success has been compromised by wrong decisions? Do you feel that, because you made a wrong career choice or have broken relationships in your past, that your life is a complete failure or that you will never be happy? Or even, perhaps, that you don’t deserve to be happy? You are not alone. We have all been there. Today let’s talk about 15 ways to live without regret
- Remove the Negatives
- Dwell on Your Strong Points
- Forgive Yourself
- Make Good Choices
- Develop a Belief System Morally and Spiritually
- Be Kind to Yourself
- Focus on the Positives
- Practice Gratitude
- Make Good Choices
- Know Yourself
- Do Good to All
- Exercise
- Love Well
- Live Your Best Life
- Renew Your Spirit
Does Everyone Make Mistakes?
Everyone makes mistakes. Humans are not perfect. Making choices in our lives determines our course. However, we may not always know or even choose to do the right thing even when we do know what is best.
We may make a wrong investment and lose a ton of money. Perhaps we turned down a promotion because it required a relocation, and now we discover that was a huge mistake. Sadly, a relationship is no longer one of compatibility or peacefulness. In an unguarded moment, we may have said something that damaged a relationship, or even destroyed a reputation. Some things, like a misspoken word, cannot be completely eradicated and forgotten.
Even personal regrets that others might judge to be rather benign may take up residence in our minds and cause us misery and self-loathing. How do we handle this in the least destructive way to self and others? Maybe we can think on the following 15 ways to live without regret.
Is it Possible to Live a Life Without Regrets?
Living a life of regret is not the ultimate plan for your life. We have been given a life of great potential, mountains to climb, problems to solve, a manuscript to be written, a symphony to compose, and a world of people to love. Jesus said:
I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.
John 10:10
Through His forgiveness toward us, we learn to forgive others and even ourselves. To rid our lives of regret, we must accept this forgiveness, forgive ourselves and extend it to others.
Here are 15 Ways to Live Without Regret and Live Your Best Life
Add your own to the list as you examine your life:
1. Remove the Negatives
Avoid labeling yourself or another as a loser, a failure, or an inadequate or unmotivated person. Focus on highlighting the things that are right in your life. Remove negativity and blame.
2. Dwell on Your Strong Points
Evaluate the strong points in your character and personality. Do not dwell on an imperfection, but rather recognize it and seek to eradicate it.
3. Forgive Yourself
Forgive yourself for the wrongs in your life. Ask forgiveness of people you have wronged. Make retribution if needed. Results not guaranteed other than knowing you have done the right thing. No longer bring that up with which to attack yourself.
4. Make Good Choices
Whatever is right and good and fair, choose these things. They will not come back to haunt and taunt you. Be aboveboard in your thinking. Ask God for the gift of wisdom in order to be known as a problem solver and a person of discernment. No regrets from wise choices.
5. Develop a Belief System Morally and Spiritually
The Ten Commandments outline the basics for living a moral life. Jesus fulfilled it by saying love God and your neighbor. Making our decisions and judgements along this line helps us to have fewer things to regret. But, there again, forgiveness is always offered to us, and we are to likewise extend it to others that we may have offended or hurt. There is a balm for destructive behavior. It is called forgiving and being forgiven. It is a release. It frees us.
6. Be Kind to Yourself
Reframe defeats and losses. Rather than self-destructing, forgive and be kind to yourself. Learn from mistakes. Build on principles learned in the downtimes. This will construct a more reliable and enlightening life as we rise from the ashes of our failures and defeats. I am stronger because of the crucible of difficult times and hurt in my life.
7. Focus on the Positives
List the Positives in describing yourself. Accentuate those attributes that will build or rebuild your life. These may include enthusiasm, creativity, discipline, motivated workmanship, respectful, honest, determined, a planner, a dreamer, dependable, reliable, loveable, admirable. Extend yourself. Be fun and positive. Let the past be forgiven. Move forward in thinking. Give yourself credit where credit is due. The future is yours.
8. Practice Gratitude
Practice being grateful. Forgiving self, asking God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness of others leaves us with a clean slate. Be thankful that every day is a new day to build positive, helpful, rewarding relationships. Thankful that former mistakes can only be destructive when we allow them to affect our thoughts and behavior. The blessings of health, opportunity, careers, relationships, family, and dream building are ours – devoid of the heavy load of regret we have carried in the past. We have a second chance. Or a third. Your past does not determine who you are. We are renewed daily in Christ. Opportunity and joy await us each day.
9. Make Good Choices
Choose a career that uses your abilities and allows you to develop your gifts. Change careers if at all feasible. Surround yourself with positive and upstanding types of people. Be alert. Be on time. Avoid making the same mistakes. Do not rehash regrets continually. This thwarts creativity, confidence building, and the joy of each day.
10. Know Yourself
Let go resentment, self-pity, false pride, and arrogance. Know yourself. Accept those things you cannot change, have the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference, as the theologian, Reinhold Niebhur wrote.
11. Do Good to All
Focus on the things that are right and choose these for every area of your life. To know to do good and not do it is a sin. To know what is best for your life and not travel that path is a waste of opportunity. Focus allows our hope of success and fulfillment in life.
12. Exercise
Rather that collapsing in a pile of regret on the couch, rise up, sneaker up, and hit the walking path. Exercise, stretch, work on looking and feeling well. This physical activity clears a mushy brain and stimulates our thought patterns. At least 30 minutes a day, force yourself to physical activity. We can look back with regret and see where poor diet and inactivity added to our feelings of self-doubt and poor self-evaluation. Do not repeat former pattern.
13. Love Well
Love, love, love. Give, give, give! The loving and generous people I know are the ones with the least regrets. Thinking of others, being kind and caring, spreading joy and happiness, will never cause us regret. What a joy to live that type of life.
14. Live Your Best Life
Living a life filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, gifts of the Spirit of God, can help us build a life with few regrets and the ability to rebuild and forgive rather than giving in to self-blame and believing outside accusers. We cannot do this on our own. We must submit to the God who loves us and wants to give us the best.
15. Renew Your Spirit
Admitting our weaknesses, responding to the forgiveness from God and others, and the renewing of our lives offered through the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, is ours to believe and receive. The power and protection of the Almighty God is ready to remove our self-incrimination and give us the power of a sound mind.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7
Listen to the video below as you clear your heart and mind and live each day to the max in the light of the Word of God. We hope these 15 ways to live without regret have given you good food for thought!
