Nothing is Wasted: Composting Past Regrets to Grow a Life of Beauty

Human beings have a built-in system for recalibration known as self-reflection. Part of maintaining a balanced mental and emotional life means spending some time remembering past experiences and seeking understanding, learning, and meaning from them. Feelings of anger, sadness, guilt, regret and remorse from perceived mistakes and failures are normal and actually a healthy sign of your ability to empathize with others, integrate experiences versus suppress them, and find a path toward acceptance. Becoming stuck in feelings about the past, however, can have a long-term negative impact on both your psyche and the ability to find meaning in everyday life. Chronic unhappiness, self-loathing, self-sabotage, and situational depression may all stem from becoming stuck in regret. At every moment, you have a choice to either wailer in the rot from your past decisions and call them regrets or you can plant