by Wayne Leon Learmond

Created on: September 19, 2009   Last Updated: October 07, 2009

To live a life without regrets is very very rare. All of us, at some point or other, will look back and think, ah, I should have done this, or I should have done that. It is natural, it is the way human beings are. I think it is possible to live without regrets, but to come across such a person, is rare.

There are always things that will haunt us, that will play on our minds and in some cases make us toss and turn in bed, in regret, wishing if only we could live our lives over. Yes, life is full of 'if onlys' for the majority of us, so we live our lives to the best of our ability and in the main contented, yes... but are we fully contented?

I have come across many people in my life that say to me that they regret nothing. I am sure that with some of them that is true, that they regret nothing and are happy with their lot. But the vast majority of people I speak too, seem to me to be stubborn at best. They say to me, that they have no regrets when really, deep down in the darkness of the night and in private they are full of regrets, and 'what ifs'. That they simply refuse to acknowledge the pain they might have caused others in not regretting anything at all, as they look back on their lives. Yes, these are the stubborn people that refuse to look back at all.

To live a life without regrets is, to my mind, to have lived a life that was and has been fulfilled.. I am fascinated by this subject because I have spoken to people who have told me -even after living through times of war and with death all around them - that their lives were lived with no regrets. They seem to acknowledge the power of fate: 'What will be will be' and all that, and rather than fighting against fate, they accept their lot, living their lives and never having regrets about anything that has happened - or anything that they have done.

I suppose that the title of this piece is personal to us all. One either has regrets or not, and it was quite a difficult title to write too. There is no right or wrong to this, some people have regrets, some few, and some not at all. The only people I have spoken too, who really do seem fulfilled and contented are some members of the elderly.

The majority of elderly people I have sat and chatted with have all told me that there was never a shadow of doubt about what they had done in their lives - or how those decisions affected others. They are adamant that what they did, the decisions that they arrived at, and acted out left them with no regrets at all.

Maybe

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