I didn’t want ...

I could have ... 

If only ...  

Regrets, self-reproach, guilt. We can learn from these and become better people. Or, we can be overwhelmed by them, forever reliving past mistakes. Events unfolding in our present lifetime were set into motion by our thoughts and actions from countless lifetimes ago. In other words, whatever is happening is supposed to happen.

Yes, we’d have better health if we had spent more time easing others’ worries instead of being absorbed in our own.

Yes, we’d be happier if we had the courage to do the right thing in the face of opposition.

Yes, we’d be enjoying more good fortune if we had put others ahead of us.

We didn’t do any of the above. So now we suffer. But suffering need not become a permanent fixture in our lives. Learning cause and effect allows us to understand why we are in our current situation. But don’t stop here. Put our newfound understanding into action! Now!

And we will reap the benefits of a better situation in the future.

Expectations prevent us from opening up to what may be truly wonderful (Click image for video)

In your excitement to get something,

make sure it’s what you want. 

Like little children who upon seeing some candy, thrust out their hands to grasp the enticing sweet, we similarly hear of something tempting and eagerly set our mind on devising a way to get it.

So caught up in how we can get our hands on this enticing piece of “candy,” and all the things that will ensue when we succeed in our quest, we forget a salient piece of information: we had decided we no longer wanted what we’re now dreaming of possessing.

In fact, we’ve been judiciously avoiding it. But so conditioned are we by our craving and so caught up are we in envisaging the pursuit, that we forget our earlier rejection of what we’re now lusting after. Thankfully, as we practice, we will find the pool of experiences and stuff we crave ever shrinking. Which is good.

Even better is remembering how we’re contentedly simplifying our life the next time a new piece of “candy” catches our attention, and we’re tempted to shout, “Mine!”