To Change or Re-live?

A friend of mine posted an interesting question on FB today.  She asked:

 "If you could go back in time only once, 

would you choose to re-live something or to change something?"

It really is a profound question that speaks to heart of who we are and how we choose to live.

Do you live with regret?

In my 20s, my motto was "No apologies.  No regrets."  Somehow as the years went on - I lost that focus, although on the whole I have been incredibly blessed... and I have come to realize that the mistakes I made truly were the things that opened my eyes to my own shortcomings and pride.  The mistakes were actually the events that taught me the most and shaped who I am today as much as anything.  Those mistakes showed me the value of love and loyalty, honesty and trust, and true faith.

So when looking at my life in its totality, I would not go back and change most events or choices - even though many were painful.

I lost the first person I truly loved to fear.
I lost the person I admired most to cancer.
... and I lost myself for a time as well.

Hmmm.

As I thought deeper about the question - would I choose to go back and change something or relive something - I came to some conclusions:

• My memories are so incredibly strong, I can go back and relive beautiful moments in mind whenever I want.

So while it would be unbelievable to be back in the arms of the person who taught me to love or thrilling to relive certain moments, they would just as quickly become memories again and be gone.

With that reality in mind then, I chose to change something...

• There are two fundamental decisions I made in ignorance that dramatically changed the course of my life - either of which I would absolutely go back and change.

Despite that fact, I still recognize those two events forced me to my knees.  Those two events introduced me to my character, my will, my unshakable faith, and my absolute belief in destiny and love.  Both times I was given the gift of seeing another person's reality as they saw it.  Seeing the impact of my choices or more aptly the impact my fear had - when I refused to chose or ACT because of fear.

Two decisions broke me as an individual and from that shattered heart each time came a newly formed, more formidable person - 10 times stronger than what I was before.

In fact, the very soul of my own Vision for my future is directly tied to reclaiming what I lost and teaching others about what I learned.

I've rewritten the ending to my own story and am awaiting the manifestation of that blessing.
I now live each day EXPECTING...
I live each day fully AWARE...
I live each day BELIEVING that my dreams - my vision - will come true.
...and because of that Faith, I make choices each day to BE the person I want to BE.

I do this because I am SPEAKING my own Truth and ACTING on my beliefs.

...because I refuse to BE anything less than what I am meant to be and I refuse to allow fear to steal one more moment from me.  I am determined.

If you don't have any regrets in your life, then God bless you!  Keep that sense of self and focus!  For anyone else who does have regrets - no matter what it may be - this is your chance to CHANGE! 

Choose to Redirect.

Refocus that regret into something positive!  Redirect those emotions, those lessons learned into your Vision for your future.  Apply what you know... and Expect your future to be better than your past!

WRITE what you want... not what you don't want!
SPEAK what you've written so you can hear your own words and BELIEVE in them!
ACT on what you expect not on what you fear!

Your Vision is worth your Faith.  Your life is worth living without regret.  No one can go back in time,  so make choices each day that move you forward toward your dream and each present moment is precious.

       THINK.       WRITE.       BELIEVE.       ACT.