The point isn’t to live without any regrets. The point is to not hate ourselves for having them.
Interpretation
Regrets are a natural part of life, and it's important not to judge ourselves harshly for them.
This quote emphasizes the inevitability of experiencing regrets throughout our lives. Instead of striving for a regret-free existence, we should focus on accepting our past decisions and showing compassion towards ourselves, recognizing that regrets can be part of our growth and understanding.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth during a workshop.
As a kid, I lived almost entirely inside books, and eventually the books started returning the favor. A lot of my internal world feels like an anthology, or a library. It's eclectic and disorganized, but I can browse in it, and that hugely shapes both what and how I write.
Our love of being right is best understood as our fear of being wrong
To err is to wander, and wandering is the way we discover the world; and, lost in thought, it is also the way we discover ourselves. Being right might be gratifying, but in the end it is static, a mere statement. Being wrong is hard and humbling, and sometimes even dangerous, but in the end it is a journey, and a story.
We're terrified of not having the answers, and we would sometimes rather assert an incorrect answer than make our peace with the fact that we really don't know.
Regret doesn't remind us that we did badly. It reminds us that we know we can do better.
Good questions work on us, we don't work on them. They are not a project to be completed but a doorway opening onto greater depth of understanding, actions that will take us into being more fully alive.
I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values - and follow my own moral compass - then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.
Self-awareness is not self-centeredness, and spirituality is not narcissism. 'Know thyself' is not a narcissistic pursuit.
It is good to taste for yourself everything you need to know. That worldly pleasures and wealth are not good things, I learned even as a child. I knew it for a long time, but only now have I experienced it.
You will not be satisfied unless you are contributing something to or for the benefit of others.
Hurting a man in his dignity is a crime.
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