Regret is as common an emotion as love or fear, and it can be nearly as powerful. We feel it when we either blame ourselves for things that turned out badly, or long to undo a choice we made in the past. The effect regret has on our lives and how we deal with regret are equally important.
In some cases, regret can be disastrous. In 1995, a British man who regularly played one set of lottery numbers forgot to renew his ticket during the week that his numbers came up. He was so filled with regret and self-blame that he committed suicide. While this is an extreme consequence of regret, it can have many other lesser effects on the mind and body that can still seriously affect our lives.
According to recent research, women have more regrets about romantic relationships than men do—not surprising, since women "value social relationships more than men". In collectivist culture where many aspects of life are arranged, people feel less regret, since many choices were made for them. There was an even split between regrets about inaction (not doing something)and action(do something you wish you didn't). The research found that some regrets are more likely than others to stay over time: people tend to hang on longer to the regret of inaction or the opportunities they have missed, meanwhile, regrets of action tend to be more recent.
Held inside for too long, regret can affect the immune system. If one fails to learn and grow from past mistakes, deep feeling of regret can stay locked inside, keeping one from fully engaging with life. This can put stress on relationships, careers, and many other aspects of life, In addition, too many regrets can lead to severe depression, which may require professional help. Therefore, it is important that we understand what regret is and how we can learn to deal with it.
To cope with regret, be aware that it is there for a reason. Our brain is telling us to take another look at our choices because they may be having negative consequences. Take "I can't believe I crashed my car. I'm so stupid." and turn it into "I'm so lucky I didn't die in the accident." How wonderful However, when the situation can't be changed, and there is nothing left for us to do, we have to let go of the situation and forgive ourselves.
We have to see that mistakes we make as necessary lessons in life. If we can learn from them and make changes, we can turn our regrets into passive actions. We can use them to improve, guide, and shape our lives for the better.
| The Taste of Regret | |
| Concept of regret | ●Regret is a powerful emotion just like love and fear. ●It occurs when bad results turn up or a is wrongly made. |
| that affect feelings of regret | ●Women are more likely to regret their romantic relationships than men. ●In the individualistic culture a person feels regret than in the collectivist culture. ●Regret lasts longer because of inaction or the. |
| Effects of regret on lives | ●Regret even a lottery buyer in an extreme example ●Regret can stop a person from enjoying many aspects of his life. ●Besides the harm done to the immune system, regret can affect a person. |
| to handling regret | ●Accept the fact that regret does in our life. ●Learn to turn disappointment into . ●Forgive ourselves for the things our control. ●Try to learn from the mistakes and shape our life for the better |
