Bonjour Royal Friends!
Welcome to my ‘tongue-in-chic’ life, style, and happiness blog from a funny princess point of view!
Today I’d like to talk to you about a hot tip to SMASH your regrets!
Regrets. Rhymes with forgets. If only we could forget our regrets. Maybe we’d sleep better. Maybe we’d smile more. Maybe we’d feel lighter in spirit. Lots of good stuff might happen.
But our regrets are irresistible food for rumination. Like the cow who chews her cud, we tend to spit up our regrets over and over again. This mental state tends to undermine our happiness and positivity, at least while the cow is chewing.
We could try to stop ruminating on our regrets, tell ourselves not to focus on our regrets, but what happens? We think about them more! Don’t think about a white elephant. Good luck.
Here’s some examples of regrets in case you have trouble thinking of any on your own! Some people might regret not going to law school. Others might regret going to law school. Others might regret not learning an instrument. Some may regret eating the entire top off of the Entenmann’s crumb cake…(guilty as charged!). Not spending enough time with their kids. Not writing that book they know they have in them. Not starting the side hustle they’ve been dreaming of. The list is inexhaustible. Inexhaustible and exhausting.
Here’s a fabulous strategy for your smashing regrets. When a bothersome regret bubbles up, phrase it in the words, “If only I________” and then fill in the blank. And then counter it with, “At least I did/didn’t_____ “and then fill in the blank…with an exclamation point in your mind! If only I/At least I!
In the crumb cake example, you could say, “If only I hadn’t eaten the entire top off of the Entenmann’s crumb cake” followed by “At least I didn’t eat the whole thing!” Or, “At least I didn’t eat the top off of two Entenmann’s crumb cakes!”
“If only I had written that book I had in me” followed by “At least I wrote a blog post!” or “At least I kept notes!” or “At least I learned from my experiences!”
You might have to get creative, and it might even be stretch, (or quasi fiction) to fill in the “At least” part. Exhibit A…the Entenmann’s crumb cake example. That’s totally fine. This strategy is designed to give you relief from the rumination torture of your mind. It doesn’t have to pass the sniff test.
And if you regret that despite all your efforts, you can’t come up with a way to smash your regrets…tell yourself at least I tried!
Bisous & Tra la la!
x♥x♥x♥,
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Dame Diane Uniman, Aka Princess Diane von Brainisfried, is an attorney turned motivational speaker, certified positive psychology life coach and award-winning writer. She wrote Bonjour, Breast Cancer-I’m Still Smiling…Wit, Wisdom, and Optimism for Beating the Breast Cancer Blues.