When it's all said and done, we will only regret the chances we didn't take. Worse than regretting the things we have done is regretting not having done something. Imagine spending your whole life wondering whether you could have achieved a particular goal. That "what if" feeling can certainly come back to haunt us every now and then. We may comfort ourselves by saying things like "it wasn't meant to be," but deep down, we just never know. Whether it's asking out the girl you've been in love with since the 3rd grade, jumping out of an airplane, or starting your own business, chances are it's a debilitating fear of failure that is keeping you from striving toward your goal. When you doubt yourself and imagine the worst, you've essentially given up before you've begun. And the only surefire way to fail is to give up. If you try and fall short, you haven't failed -- you've merely learned a lesson. We must aim to...

As we get older, we realize that things don't always turn out the way we planned, or the way we think they should. For example, there may come a point where you concede that your bad back precludes you from becoming the rich professional basketball player you aspire to be. Or, it becomes clear that you won't be going on a date with the new office secretary you've been ogling for months after realizing she has a boyfriend. Additionally, we come to terms with the sobering reality that troublesome relationships cannot always be fixed. As much as we may try, they may never go back to being the way they were in the beginning. Our relationships with certain people may become frayed or fall apart completely. Sometimes it's one person's fault, or it may very well be that both people are to blame. Nonetheless, it can be difficult to see a relationship we envisioned lasting a lifetime go down the tubes. But we must all accept that people and circumstances change...

Irish novelist James Joyce once said, "Mistakes are portals of discovery." And if you stop and think about it, he was absolutely right. We wouldn't have learned some of our most valuable life lessons had we not messed up in the past. Those missteps actually enabled us to grow and acquire wisdom we can in turn pass on to our kids, friends, and other loved ones. Sure, we might be ashamed of our mistakes and wish we could have a few do-overs. But one important thing to remember is that no one is perfect. We all make them and have to deal with the consequences thereafter. Harping on our mistakes isn't healthy.  At some point, we must recognize -- and accept -- that the past is behind us, and there's nothing we can do to change it. Rather than carry our mistakes around with us, we should place them under our feet and use them as stepping stones to bettering ourselves. Whether we got into a car accident while driving around tipsy, took a wonderful partner ...

The key to a happier life, as Albert Einstein said, is to tie your life to a goal -- not to people or things. We all have goals we aim to achieve, from getting a degree to traveling around the world to losing weight to spending more time with our family. When you make your happiness contingent upon the acquisition of material possessions or the approval of others, the quality of your life takes a nosedive. For one, material stuff rusts, wears, and tears. Sure, it's always nice to get a new phone or car, but the novelty of the item dissipates quite fast. Before you know it, that phone or car is giving you problems. People who feel they have to be the first to obtain the latest and greatest gadgets will never be content, and it's likely because they're trying to stay ahead of their peers. In the end, buying loads of expensive products you may not even need does nothing but eat away at your bank account and credit. Typing your happiness to other people is similarly ...

Let go of the past. Let go of your regrets. Take stock of your life and focus on the here and now. The past is the past. The future shines ever so bright! You shouldn't regret your mistakes so long as you learned from them. Sometimes, our biggest failures end up being precisely what we need to grow as individuals. Don't let them impede your progress. Don't allow them to obstruct your path toward bigger and better things. Life goes on. Keep your head up. Stay positive. As hard as it may seem right now, things will get better. And just because you had a bad experience -- whether a relationship that went sour or a short-lived job that didn't fit your skills or temperament -- doesn't mean history is bound to repeat itself. Things can get better. Things will get better. Such experiences sharpen our judgment. The most painful experiences, in fact, supply us with the most strength and fortitude. Shed your mind of negative thoughts -- ones that do nothing ...

Though some of us fear it more than others, human beings, for the most part, have a natural aversion to change. But why? For starters, we all slip into comfort zones that are difficult to clamber out of. We become so accustomed to the same people, routines, and processes in our everyday lives that a big life change -- like moving to a new town,  getting a new job, or beginning a new relationship -- can seem utterly frightening. Even the best of us have a tendency to think that going through with the change can turn out disastrous. Countless questions run through our minds like "What if I regret it?" and "What if it doesn't work out?" As I've noted in other posts, I am very risk-averse myself. When contemplating making a change that would require getting out of my comfort zone, I often tell myself that the status quo isn't so bad and the grass on the other side isn't necessarily greener. The only problem is that making our goals a reality ...

How might your decisions be different? How might your life be different? Well, perhaps you would dump the guy you're dating after seeing he would eventually cheat on you. You might change jobs after noticing that your boss would gradually become abusive toward you, or change careers after seeing all the jobs in your current field would require upwards of 50 hours per week. Maybe you would not have kids upon discovering he or she would be born with an illness. Or perhaps you'd opt to move to a different neighborhood upon discovering your present one will see a rash of robberies in the coming years. Since we can't see into the future, it's impossible for us to always make optimal decisions. The best we can do is plan ahead and think carefully before making a big decision. Even then, what seems like a well-conceived decision today could turn out to be a disaster later on. The problem is that far too many people make decisions on impulse -- without at least consi...