Letting Go of Regret: Healing the Soul and Spirit

As we head towards the end of the year we often find ourselves looking back at our goals not only for the past 12 months but also what we did or didn’t achieve in the past. What did you reach? Did you find that perfect person? That career break? When we look back we often have regrets – we look at missed opportunities, situations where we wished we had acted differently. Regret is a very complex emotion that is mixed up with sorrow, remorse and wishing we could go back and get a second chance.

Researchers have discovered that people experience a deeper sense of regret over missed love opportunities than they usually do over work, friendships or education. If you’re one of the people experiencing regret what’s the spiritual lesson and is there anything we can do to move on and heal from regret?

On an emotional level long term regret usually arises from unanswered questions. If we have missed an opportunity in say our career – we can learn from this and try again. Perhaps we left school without getting the qualifications we wanted and have been stuck in a dead-end job. The fact is we can do something about this – we are never too old to go for our dreams. We can get the answer to the question ‘What if . . .?’

Many clients ring for a psychic reading to ask about past relationships and regrets about the past. When it comes to a regrets around relationships this is where we can get imprisoned in long term sorrow, beating ourselves up over choices we made and wondering if we could have done things differently. Getting the answer to our question ‘What if . . .?’ can be a lot more difficult especially if we are no longer in contact with the other person or we parted on bad terms.

Moving past relationship regret first involves understanding there were two people involved in the situation. You were both at different stages of soul growth. First see what lesson you have learned. If we can see there is a soul lesson and a take out from the experience – even a negative one, it allows us to see we have learned from it and we can see it as an opportunity rather than a disaster.

If you still experience regret then you can always write this down in a letter or email even if you are no longer in touch with the person. Write from the heart. You will be surprised how this enables you to heal. If you do know how to contact the person then it is up to you whether you send it or not. You may not receive a reply or if you do depending on the circumstances, it may not be the reply you would like. Only send it if you have no expectations as to the other person’s response. However, no matter what reply you receive (or none) this may answer your unanswered questions, providing you with closure, which again allows you to move on and heal your regrets.

Alternatively, do a meditation. Imagine yourself sitting in a room with an empty chair opposite you. Then imagine the person you feel regret over coming in and sitting opposite you. Now, tell them exactly how you feel. Watch their expression and when you have finished speaking wait for their response. Not only will you receive amazing insights into the situation you will be free and so will they!

Life is too short for regret. The secret to freeing ourselves from it is to see the spiritual lesson behind it, learn from it and move on. The wonderful thing about life is that it is constantly presenting us with new opportunities. State your intention to learn from the situations you regret and step into new outcomes in the future. Remember, there are no regrets in life – just lessons!

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