no regretful thinking

Sometimes we have to learn from our mistakes. I notice that when I am at work, I often learn a lot of valuable lessons simply in the process of being with very talented people, and I can only be humble to them. It is also a good reminder that we are always in the process of becoming based on the people with whom we associate. It is more of an honor to be with them, and it helps to see it in a positive way that one can always learn from others.
   From this perspective, however, there is no such thing as a final resting point where I can say that my learning is finished. Nor can I even say "I did everything I could". However, it's important not to get into the mental trap of "if only I didn't do so and so, then this would not have happened." The reality is that it did happen (whatever it is), and note the emphasis on the past tense. The fact that it did happen means that it can't be reversed. This is so important, because a lot of times, regret is based on a fantasy that one could reverse something that happened the way it did for significant reasons.
   After all, if something doesn't happen for a reason then there would not be any sufficient means for it to happen. But if there are sufficient conditions, then of course, it will start to emerge. It's important to go back and wonder with curiosity and exploration why the thing happened as it did, but not to do so with a sense of regret. Regret doesn't help very much, because again it's based on the false notion that we can reverse time. In reality, time cannot be reversed, and we often aren't even aware of the consequences of certain actions until they arise.
  Can we learn from our past? Yes, I believe so, but in this entry I am emphasizing the importance of doing so with the right attitude. Feeling painful about what has happened is only going to make matters more depressing, since it is not coming from a place of really accepting what has happened with all its complex reasons. In exploring such reasons, we learn to let go of the need for a perfect past. Things happened for complicated reasons that are often beyond our imagination or thinking at the time.