By engaging in an analysis of our past behaviour and its outcomes, we may better understand why we acted the way we did. That way we may start seeing specific patterns in our acting and understand better why we are who we are.
Analyse regrets
When we engage in thinking and dealing with our regrets, we may achieve a reconciliation. For the future, getting over the past is important. We may also realise we can perhaps still change something and mitigate the negative outcomes of past decisions. Then regrets may lead to new actions that will help us actually move forward.
However, although we very often try to reduce the level of stress we face, want to set appropriate and better career goals, improve our personal finances or start eating more healthily, we seldom really deal properly with our regrets. We ought to be using them to reveal insights about ourselves and build on past mistakes in order to avoid future dysfunctional paths. We should use the mistakes as a tool to become better versions of ourselves and to try do things differently in the future.
Use regrets constructively
We cannot change the past. But understanding how it came about will also help us to understand the present. We can refine who we are now and how we want to act and decide in the future. This is the message from articles at management-issues.com and on the INSEAD business school website. By incorporating what we have learnt into our current decisions and actions, we can break free from a never-ending cycle of self-blame.
-jk-