Why Regret Is Essential to the Good Life (2013)

Well I made it about 50% of the he way through and was filled with regret for starting the article. I found it whiny and introspective, all the things the author feared.<p>Regret to me means you didn&#x27;t take away the lesson when something didn&#x27;t go the way you wanted. If you learn the lesson, and then apply it, what is to regret? There is no sense in living in the past.

Retrospective analysis is important; is regret? Is it crucial to have the emotional distress that comes with rational evaluation of past choices? Does negative emotional reinforcement really work at such long time remove?

Regret can be a very strong motivator. Cold retrospective analysis does not guarantee that the lesson will be imprinted in the consciousness. If you do regret something though, chances that you repeat the same mistake again are much smaller than if you just analysed the old situation.<p>You can look at the opposite of regret - say you really like doing something (for example - programming) - you will be doing it much better (via motivation) than if you just decided to do it because it is worth doing it (ie. via cold analysis of the potential outcome like good pay in the future).

If you never regret anything, you&#x27;ve never taken responsibility for anything. Saying &quot;No regrets&quot; is not something to be proud of.