We regret many things in our life. We always wonder why aren’t we able to do those wonderful things that we used to do in our childhood or youth.
On one hand we are rueful of the past and regret not being able to do many things then due to paucity of funds or knowledge or the will to do that. On the other hand now we regret not being able to be so proactive like your younger self. You were full of chutzpah and zest earlier and now you have lost the mojo in your life.
Either ways, you are dreading your current status of being hyper active or a complete dodo. Your regret shows so plainly that you may completely turn yourself off. So why are you regretting your current or past status?
Let us first tackle the lack of enthusiasm and inertia set in you today, whereas you were literally a firebrand earlier in life. You have asked yourself why are you like this now? A completely stupefied and inert being. It’s isn’t that you haven’t analyzed yourself to death for your current status quo and not arrived at any conclusion. You have done the tests required and passed all of them too. Maybe it’s the GMAT or IELTS or IQ, you have excelled in all of them. Yet, nothing moves in your world. You have become numb to everything around you. You are smart and intelligent, good looking and sexy, monied and well travelled, intellectual and eligible, but still nothing works in your life.
You ask yourself, am I missing a life partner and answer it yourself, that you have burnt your hands in that space and it is better to be single. Relationships are a non starter. Then are you missing love and caring? None of these actually matter and yet the rust is settling in. So why are you in a state of remorse or regret? What is lacking in your life?
Now let’s look at the other person, who is bubbling with excitement and has no time for frivolity today and yet regrets the past. They believe they could have done still better earlier in life, if only, they could have had everything that they possess right now. Their main refrain is- if only! They wished that the people who were with them earlier were now with them. If only their lovers or kids were a part of their now. They regret everything that happened to them then. Can they go back and change the past? There are no answers but only regrets!
The answer to the above two are the same. Just go and do it without expectations at all. Continue to do what you are doing and don’t bother about the fruits of action. Krsna explains the same to Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. He was filled with inertia and stupor and refuses to move, so Krsna goads him to perform action.
What stops a person in performing right action is inertia and the spiritual answer to it is called Self Efforts. Regrets are not going to give you anything else except heartburn. So why not move yourself into action by self effort alone. At least for your future generation, you need to leave behind a legacy of good deeds. You are setting examples to them of being your good self by working really hard. So stop the self pity and regrets that you show yourself and get moving.
God has made this world to progress further and further and not regret on the past. Just focus on the current and keep on doing your stuff selflessly. You may have planted the seed today and your future generations will eat the fruits of your action. Any which way, every human being is a servant of the future generation. So why not do the needful and stop procrastinating? So go ahead and just do it. Stop regretting now! Put your steps forward and don’t look back. Your past is only your teacher for the future so stop regretting and just march on. You can never change your past but surely you can change your future by being in the present. So give your best shot in life now. Keep excelling and stop regretting. Self effort is the only way!
