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IF ONLY…NEXT TIME
Posted by malinesky“If only I did the right thing….
If only I had known….
If only I could start over….
If only I loved her more….
If only I chose the other road….
If only I got back…..
If only I said the last goodbye…..
If only I didn’t make those crazy things…
If only I didn’t overspend….
If only I listened to my mother….
If only I had been wiser….
If only I was not selfish….
If only….”
IF ONLY - These are the words we always say whenever we regret a decision we made. Of course everybody regrets, who doesn’t? However, if we repeatedly say IF ONLY, we keep on dwelling on the past and we’re not moving on. Check on the phrases, all the verbs used are on the past tense. WE CAN’T UNDO THE PAST, right? NEVER. But we can always correct it.
Life is not like clicking the undo button on our keyboards, and with just a hit of our fingers all our mistakes are erased (hehe, but sometimes I can’t help having this wishful thinking). Anyway, as I have mentioned, life is not like that. So we should not dwell on the past too much - there is no CONTROL Z in real life. We can’t undo what has been done. Yet, we have CONTROL C and Control V (copy and paste - remember the adage, history repeats itself?). But definitely no CONTROL Z. Zilch. Like the old cliche’, Past is Past. BUT, definitely there is NEXT TIME.
If our plans didn’t work out because we made the wrong decisions, what we should do NEXT TIME is to learn from our mistakes and experiences. For example, if we hurt our loved one, we regret by saying, “if only I didn’t say those harsh words.” Rather that regretting, I think we should say, “Next time I see her, I will tell her sorry and I love you.” Or, when we say, “If only I didn’t make that bad mistake…”, why don’t we say to ourselves, “Ok, NEXT TIME, I will not repeat it and will do the right thing!”
See, if we take out the words IF ONLY and change them to NEXT TIME, there is this notion that we are stopping all our regrets - we are moving forward, taking action on all the things and consequences that can still be corrected and changed. Hence we should not continuously live our lives with regrets.
NEXT TIME we you say if only, say instead NEXT TIME!
Act on it NOW and DON’T WAIT til it’s too late!!!
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I think “OK, NEXT time..” is a good start for getting rid of the habit of living (and wishing for or wishing we could change) the past. But, it’s possible to end up living only IN the future, too. Which means we never really get the chance to enjoy the moment we’re in.
Strange, too… this subject seems to be THE subject on a lot of blogs this week.
Les Becker’s last blog post..Just Call Me “Patches”
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So true.
Laarni’s last blog post..Happy 40th, Gerry!
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