Egrets, I have a few
If you missed yesterday’s piece because I sent it at an unusual hour, here it is again.
My schedule’s totally off so timing for newsletters will be chaotic for a while - but just like the mailman, I’ll keep coming no matter what. Bad choice of words.
Going to adapt another zen story I remember from when I was kid for today’s exercise:
A young novice asks his Zen Master:
“Master, I’ve found a woman I love beyond all reason. I want to stop my training and go live with her, but I’m afraid I’ll regret it. What should I do?”
One potential answer, as usual, at the end.
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Living with (r)egrets
It’s hard to do it. The birds are notoriously hard to manage, but regrets are even harder.
To add a bit on yesterday’s topic, (potential) regrets can be the main reason you freeze up and don’t take action. Why you overanalyze and stay in the same place instead of making incremental changes.
The reality is regret make you human. If you mindlessly jump in without thinking of consequences, that’s not bravery, that’s just being foolish or inconsiderate.
The point is to enjoy the process, not (just) the outcome.
If you create a flow where you’re seeing small improvements weekly, if not daily, you’ll be able to live with your egrets. Beautiful birds, though, really.
So instead of trying to figure out how to remove regrets from your life, figure out how you can create small wins that make the regrets feel silly or insignificant.
Create small pockets of air if you feel you’re drowning. That’s basically it. It’s a small change that will yield big results (and a better life) if done consistently.
To add on all this, apparently regret is one of the things that helps us evolve.
Answer: The Zen master replies “No matter what you choose, you’ll regret it.”
Kind of spoiled the answer with today’s topic, but hey, no regrets!