Living Without Regret
By Jennifer Kelleher
I invite you to settle into your space with some conscious inhales and exhales. Close your eyes and let your mind rest on the breath inside your body. Feel yourself coming onto subject (subject being you) and letting go of everything else. Find this moment. Can you open your mind to the possibility that every moment is your moment?
What does, “living with no regrets” mean to you? Every so often, I stop and ask myself: “If my life were to end today, would I have any regrets? If so, what would they be?” This reflection helps me to self-assess if I am living in alignment. It brings awareness to the areas that I would like to improve and guides me in determining how I will prioritize my time going forward.
I believe it is important to ask yourself this question periodically, because as we live, our minds expand, and our answers evolve. Revisiting important reflection questions helps to keep us on our honest path.
As we grow, so does our level of awareness. Once we become aware of something, it is no longer valid to use ignorance as an excuse for our behaviors. Sometimes we know in our minds that something is wrong, but there is still a level of ignorance because the knowledge has not yet been converted into wisdom.
Wisdom is a product of experience, which is why we can read all the books in the world, but unless we go out and live, we won’t fully grasp the meaning of the letters on the pages. Because of this, aligning our actions with what our minds know to be true can sometimes take time, and that’s OK. If we have an idea of where we are going and take even the tiniest steps in that direction each day, we are heading in the right direction.
Looking back, I am amazed at everything I have overcome to step into the person I am today. There were times when I felt trapped in certain patterns or behaviors, but even in those spaces I had a vision of what I was capable of, and I kept that vision in the forefront of my mind. I didn’t necessarily know how I would get there, but I knew I had to. I have found that having a steady vision and feeling into the energy of “future self” here in the present moment, plays a big part in our evolution.
Living with no regrets for me means aligning my actions with what I know to be true. Change can be difficult, but adjusting my behaviors and lifestyle to mirror my ever-expanding understanding has become easier. I am at the point where I have had the experience of being forced into changes that I could have made by myself earlier on without nearly as much pain or suffering. These life experiences taught me a lot. Having the strength and courage to follow your inner knowing in the moment, even though it feels hard and scary, will get you where you need to be quicker and with much less of a mess than waiting for outside forces to make the decision for you. I find that the more I stand in my truth and initiate the hard step forward, the more effortless and natural everything after that becomes.
We are all different. For me, in the past I would have the knowing, but not take the action out of fear and that lack of wisdom that only time and experience can give you, if you are willing to receive it. Many things have helped me to build strength and courage, but one of the big ones was getting strong and aligned in my body through different practices, including yoga and Pilates. When there is structure, strength, and flexibility in the body, these same qualities are reflected in all areas of life.
Join us at Ocean Bliss Yoga. Check our schedules and sign up at oceanblissyoga.net. Also, I am hosting an in-studio mini-retreat on Saturday, March from 2 to 4 p.m. Sign up on our website or contact me at 917-318-1168.
