Responsible
“It is not our duty to suffer over what will be or won’t be — to live with painful regret or guilt over what was or wasn’t. Our soul task is to be responsible for what is.” – Guy Finley
I think that at the end of the day, it is better to have tried to shoot for the moon, and land on a star, than it is to have never even tried. I think that regretting not doing something, is much harder to live with, because it doesn’t reveal a lesson. As least if you try to invent the light bulb, you learn not only 900 ways how not to create a light bulb, but along the way some other interesting things will be realized, learned and applied to other inventions.
What is currently going on in our lives is the direct result of decisions that we made, or avoided making. We are responsible for “what is”. But the most important thing to understand, is that every single moment, we can make a new decision to change what is, into something new. Isn’t it amazing that you get to decide who you are? If you don’t chase after your dreams, how will you ever know what life has the possibility to be?
When we live our life from the standpoint of guilt or regret, we have made ourselves prisoners of the past. I remember a quote (unknown source) that shows how ironic it is to make ourselves suffer the pains of regret. It said, “never regret anything because at one time is was exactly what you wanted.” Every second we spend in the past is a second that we can’t get back. It is a moment of passionate – abundant – radiant – joy that we miss out on living with today in this moment.
So avoid regrets by taking chances. Don’t be afraid to screw it up royally (why make a small mistake when you can make a catastrophe?). Don’t settle. Be an original, because the world doesn’t need another copy of someone else. Let your spirit soar. And most important of all make someone laugh! (it’s why I married my husband, no matter what is happening in life, he can make me laugh).
