Millstone or Stepping Stone?
Today I have been thinking a lot about regrets I have about my life, regrets that range the gamut of things I wish I had done-to things I wish I hadn’t done. What has been running through my mind though is conversations with other people the past few days that also seem to be thinking about regrets, only the amazing thing is how those conversations have been leading to revelations of how they have been challenged by those regrets instead of being swallowed alive by them. Perhaps it has to do with the season, as dormant bulbs burst into bloom and new leaves give life to a barren landscape, we realize we don’t have to live in a continuous winter of regrets. It occurs to each of us that we have an option of allowing regrets to be a millstone around our neck pulling us down or stepping stones for a new path. Today my choice is to not be afraid or ashamed of my regrets or choices but to realize that everything in my life can be used for good if I am willing, and to spend time thinking about how I can transform some of the trash of my life into treasure.
One of the people I have been extremely impressed with lately that has taken the ashes of regret and turned them into a burning flame of love is a woman named Betty Londergan. Betty realized she was watching the inheritance she received from her father disappear rapidly in the current financial market and decided to take that money and each day choose someone or some group that she felt was doing good in the world and donate $100 to them and then blog about it so other people could know about fantastic things happening everyday in the world. Her blog at http://whatgives365.wordpress.com/ has been an enormous blessing to me.
A group of people that have inspired me have been friends in recovery that have given me a new way of looking at my past regrets through something called, “The Twelve Promises”:
