Article by Kevin L. DeWitt

Something which motivates me a great deal is growing old with regret.  I don’t want to look back on my life wishing I had done more … things with meaning … wishing I hadn’t hurt this or that person … or rebuilding relationships with those I did.

Regret can be scary.

And the only way to live without regret is to find a way to make life truly meaningful.  So how do we do that?  How do we make each moment count?  Here are some thoughts.

Make life about others

One of the most important things any of us can do is to make our life about other people.  So much of our world is self-centered.  We’re brought up to believe that we’re more important than everyone else, and that we need to take care of our own needs and wants first.

But after a while – some people sooner than later - we realize that we feel empty.  That’s, by the way, when many of us have a midlife crisis … because we realize we’ve spent so much of our lives working to make ourselves happy … and we aren’t.

Someone once said “All the suffering in the world comes from wanting happiness for oneself; All the happiness in the world comes from wanting happiness for others.”  It’s true.  A life spent helping others is a life well spent. And when our time comes to an end there will be no regrets because we’ve have used our time well.

Don’t procrastinate

If we wish to make each moment meaningful, then we have no time to procrastinate.  Think about the last five years of your life.  How fast have they flown by?  Personally, I feel I’ve spent too much time procrastinating, and this is a cause for regret.  We hear it all the time … and unfortunately it usually takes a major life-event to open our eyes: Life is short.

To make matters worse, we have no idea when our life is going to end.  So now ask yourself this: if you knew you had only five years left would you change the way you are living?  I bet most of us would.

Don’t be angry

Anger, it is said, is the worst of all the negative emotions.  A single moment of anger can destroy years of good deeds … or a relationship … or worse.  And the thing about anger is that we always end up regretting it.

Think about the last time you got angry and acted on it.  You might have yelled at your spouse, or brother or sister, or a coworker.  How did you feel five minutes later?  Did you feel vindicated and justified, or did you feel heavy and burdened? I’m betting it was the latter.  Each time I’ve said or done something in anger, I have regretted it later.

Life’s too short for anger.

And angry people don’t succeed in life.  They tend to sabotage their happiness and end up living very lonely lives.  Take a look at any friend or relative you have that is constantly angry. They’re never happy. They get no joy from life’s simple pleasures.

So don’t become one of those people who finds the worst in every situation … instead look for the best.

Our life on this earth is short and fleeting. With compassion, love, and patience, we should all try living our lives in a way that will allow us to have few regrets.

“Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so.”
-Ray Stannard Baker [David Grayson]

“Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are cause by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past and not enough presence.”
-Eckhart Tolle

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