#359: What Paths Do Our Lives Take?

Recently, I wrote about a book I'm editing for my aunt in Indiana. It's a story of her life from being a barefoot young girl growing up in Appalachia to become minister of her own church. As I work on this story I am learning more and more of her background that I didn't know before. And, watching her life change through her words, I have started to think about my own life and how it has progressed.

But more importantly, I have started to wonder about our lives in general and how seemingly insignificant decisions and events can alter the course of our lives forever.

Are there times you look back on and wonder how your life would have evolved if you had made a different choice?

I'm sure we all have but we will never know what would have happened if we had done something differently. Still, we have those situations we would have changed. So, since we can not turn back the clock what can we do?

We can learn from our mistakes. We can learn from our timidity and make bolder decisions in the future. We can learn from our failed or flawed relationships and vow to eliminate hate and envy and other negative aspects of our personalities. We can also vow to never allow another moment pass by when we could have extended a helping hand to someone but didn't.

This is not living in the past. It is improving our present and future by learning from our past. As Frank Sinatra often sang, "Regrets, I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention."

Let's not have more regrets in our lives. Let's reach out and grasp the opportunities that present themselves to us to accept a job or a promotion or to meet someone new or help someone or to take a trip or take up an activity we have always wanted to try.

Life really is too short. Let's learn from the past and embrace the future with open arms. Let's LIVE life rather than merely passing through it.