Have you ever heard someone say “If only I could go back and tell my old self this now…” before? It’s something that many people say when they reflect on their past mistakes, however, it is an unnessasary statement.
It is in our capabilities to gain this valued advice before, rather than wishing we had it after. We already have the advice within us: our conscience. The little angel standing there on our shoulders. We already know right from wrong, we already have the advice that we need to save ourselves.
When we are forced to make a decision, most of us already know what the right choice is. People know that if they choose to do X-activity, Y-reaction will happen, whether it will be a good reaction or not. And a lot of the time they choose the activity that they know will cause a bad reaction, hoping that somehow they won’t get caught. Even with the angel giving good advice on their shoulder.
In a Ted Talk by Ismael Nazerio, “What I learned as a kid in jail,” he talks about his life in jail at age 15. He spent 400 days in correction centers and 300 in solitary confinement because of a few bad decisions he made. Ismael talks about advice he would give his younger self in this inspiring talk. He would have advised him to not make the decisions he did and to make better ones.
Nazerio surely knew before what choices would be the best ones, but he didn’t listen to them. The advice he has for himself now, most likely, is very similar to what his conscience was telling him then, meaning that he already had the advice then.
There is still time to start making good decisions. Just start listening to that little guy and make good choices. All it takes is 21 days of doing the right thing and you have created a healthy habit of making the right decision. Doing the right thing can be everyone’s habit.
By listening to what our minds have to say we will no longer have regrets, build an immunity to choosing the bad, and start choosing the good. Doing this will greatly improve our lives by removing our longing to change what is already done. 90% of people say they have at least one major regret in their lives, according to The Huffington Post. Lets lower that number and start making the right decisions and improve our futures for the better.
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