Hindsight

by Karen

I’m always interested in hearing people’s thoughts on what they would change in their lives if they could do them over again, or any significant regrets they have as they begin to reach their twilight years. I like to try and use any perspectives that resonate to make adjustments in my own life, small or big, in order to live my life in the fullest way possible.

I recently came across this anonymous person’s response to the question, “What is your most profound regret in life?”, and thought his insight was worth posting…

“Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I’ve ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing… Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away.”

And yet, there must be a reason that we rush, besides the fact that society encourages it. On some level, it must meet a need somewhere within us, otherwise we wouldn’t give in to the compulsion to move at breakneck speed. Maybe we rush to avoid discomfort or pain. Or we rush to forget. Or to fill a hole that won’t go away. Regardless of what it appears to satiate, rushing will only ever serve a function on the surface of our lives and will never manage to penetrate what is going on beneath. And more than that, it will keep us from every really experiencing life. And if we never truly experience life, think of all that we miss. To live in the unrushed moment and let it be enough…that is a difficult, but worthy pursuit.