Dear friends,
After 65 years of listening to people wrestle with their inner lives, I’ve seen one theme cause more pain than almost any other: regret.
Regret about words left unsaid.
Regret about choices not made.
Regret about the past.
But here’s the truth:
“The past is gone. There’s nothing we can do about it.”
We cannot remake it. We cannot undo it. We can only decide how much space we’ll let it take in our minds.
When we revisit the past, the only useful question we can ask is:
“How can I do that better next time?”
If the answer leads to growth, then the past has served a purpose. Otherwise, regret is wasted energy.
Shame, blame, and self-criticism do nothing but weigh us down. We all make mistakes. That’s the nature of being human. The best we can do is learn, improve, and move forward.
So when regret shows up in your mind—don’t feed it. Don’t let it breathe. Leave it, as I like to say, “in the dustbin of history.”
Because freedom comes not from rewriting the past, but from refusing to be trapped by it.
Golden light,
Dr. Richard Louis Miller
P.S. I explore this practice of releasing the past—and replacing regret with growth—in my book, Master Your Mind: Practical Tools to Calm Anxiety, Silence Your Inner Critic, and Stop Overthinking. It’s filled with short, practical tools you can use to stay grounded in the present and build a future you’ll be proud of.
1-minute mind control (my new book)
Traditional mindfulness and meditation techniques often require a huge investment of your most precious resource (time) without guarantees of results.
My own version of mindfulness—what I sometimes refer to as “mind control”—can be mastered in much less time if you commit to regular 60-90 second practice throughout the day.
Breathing. Witnessing. Changing the channel on negative thoughts.
I’ve honed these techniques over a lifetime of personal and professional practice, and now I’m sharing them with the world.
Get my new book Master Your Mind, and as a thank you for your support, I’ll give you a free 30-day subscription to our premium newsletter and exclusive content. Just reply to this email after you buy it to confirm your purchase.
Next Week’s MBHP Episode:
Why Marriage Is Failing America’s Poor (And Making Inequality Worse)
Economist Michael Tanner reveals the marriage gap between rich and poor, why rural poverty is worse than urban, and how the collapse of traditional economies is creating a generation of unmarriageable men.
Guest: Michael Tanner – Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, author of research on marriage and poverty