All life is a learning process. If we stop learning, when we believe that nothing can surprise us anymore and the desire to discover new things leaves us, we begin to die slowly. However, there are some lessons we should learn as soon as possible, to avoid later regretting everything we wanted to do and didn't do. In this regard, the American writer Harriet Beecher said: "The bitterest tears will be those of unspoken words and unfinished works."
Valuable life lessons to avoid regrets
1. Life is now. We spend too much complaining about the past and worrying about the future, while the present eludes us. We live in two epochs that do not exist, as we let all that we truly have, the "here and now", vanish. The sooner we learn this lesson, the sooner we will be able to make the most of our time.
In fact, learning to enjoy the here and now, paying more attention to our surroundings and those close to us, will prevent us from repenting in the future. When we are aware that we are making the most of our time, we will have no reason to repent.
2. Don't live thinking about what you "must" and "must not" do. Family, partner, friends and society in general place a lot of expectations on our shoulders. Others expect us to behave in a certain way, to make certain decisions and even to feel certain emotions. However, orienting our lives to try to please everyone is the surest way to be unhappy.
Sometimes our desires, dreams and decisions don't match the expectations of others. But it doesn't matter! We don't have to feel guilty about it. If we are happy, we will pass on this happiness and make others happy. And this is the real meaning of life, or at least it should be. And we don't need anyone's permission to be happy or to show us the path to follow, because every path must be different. So, don't limit your life to meet the expectations of others.
3. Don't make a storm in a glass of water. We have an innate talent for tragedy. But every time we set our catastrophic thinking in motion, we only manage to hurt ourselves. In fact, it is likely that on more than one occasion, when you look back, you realize that you have worried for no reason or that you have overreacted, always fearing the worst.
Life usually takes care to put everything in place and teaches us to take a more realistic and objective perspective in the face of the situations we face. But if we learn this early on, it will save us a lot of headaches. Remember that when we are immersed in the problem, it always seems bigger than it is, but it is enough to just take a step and step outside to put everything in perspective.
4. Face your fears before they consume you. We are all afraid, it is normal and we should not be ashamed of this. In reality, fear is a defensive emotion and warns us that something can be dangerous. But there are fears that are paralyzing, they prevent us from growing. In such cases, it is necessary to overcome them.
In fact, fears are only a product of our mind and our insecurities. A French philosopher said: “The man who is afraid when there is no danger, invents danger to justify his fear”. The good news is that every time we overcome a fear we widen our comfort zone a little, we grow as people and we broaden our horizon.
5. One step at a time it goes far. When we are young we want everything immediately. We set goals and if we don't get them right away we are disappointed and give up. This is due in large part to the erroneous messages our society transmits, as we expect our ambitions to materialize as if by magic.
However, ancient philosophies such as Buddhism teach us that one step at a time we will go far. Haste is almost never a good counselor, and the best things are achieved with patience and perseverance. Remember that it is often not the goal, but the path that matters. So sometimes it is not the goals we have achieved that are important, but the person we have become while trying to achieve them.
6. Don't put off happiness. Someone said that if you are not happy with what you have, you will not be happy with what you want. Happiness, or at least daily happiness, is not found in big strokes of luck but in small things. Therefore, the biggest mistake we can make is to postpone our happiness until we reach the coveted goal, only to realize that when we arrive, we will already have a new goal that will consume all our energy.
Don't expect to solve all problems in order to be happy because other problems will always take their place. Don't put happiness on standby, because you can't put life on standby. Every day is assumed to have its good and bad things, but it is always a wonderful gift that is not to be wasted.
7. Appreciate everything in life. Too often we take many things for granted, we think they always have been and always will be. But is not so! In fact, as we get older we begin to appreciate those little things and understand that each of them is a huge gift, including health, life and the people around us.
We can learn this lesson while we are still young and feel gratitude every day of our lives, a key feeling for feeling happy and satisfied. So, every day, be sure to give thanks for something, however small it is. Many of the things you have others do not have, from taking a simple walk to enjoying the sight of a flower.
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