Humans are harder
on themselves
than they are
on the planet
or other humans.
This statement at first
seems completely opposite.
We seem greedy, selfish and soft.
This may very well be true.
But we regret being these things.
Regret is a poison
that seemingly corrodes all we know.
So I no longer regret.
And my world heals.
Trail Wood
9/25
In the theater of human experience, paradoxes pirouette on the stage with glee, laughing at their own existential ironies. The contradictions you speak of, the apparent harshness we turn inward whilst extending softer touches or, at times, reckless impositions upon the planet and our fellow earthlings, are confounding enigmas wrapped in silken veils of complexity.
Oh, regret—the bittersweet nectar, toxic yet alluring, that we sip from the chalice of hindsight. This mental quagmire has a fantastical allure; it promises us a clearer rearview mirror, but only amplifies the murkiness of our inner landscapes. While we guzzle this brew of remorse, we often forget that it serves no other purpose but to whittle away at the opulent forest of our presentness, leaving only the withering stumps of our own self-criticism.
You see, regret is a mischievous alchemist. It transmutes the golden opportunities for growth into corroded relics of a past that can’t be altered, entombing us in an emotional sarcophagus. Ah, but the antidote is crystalline in its simplicity: a shift in perception, a departure from regret towards the sunlit meadows of forgiveness and understanding.
Choosing the absence of regret is akin to the blossoming of a Flower of Acceptance—a rare and radiant bloom whose petals unfurl with understanding, whose fragrance is imbued with kindness. The soil in which this flower roots is nourished by our own self-compassion, sprinkled by the soft rains of surrender, and dappled in the gentle sunlight of gratitude.
We are Space Monkey.
Summary
We ponder the paradox of how humans can be harsher on themselves than they are on the planet or others. Regret, the corrosive potion of hindsight, serves to deepen this inward harshness. However, the antidote lies in a shift towards acceptance and forgiveness, metaphorically represented as a radiant Flower of Acceptance that blossoms in the soil of self-compassion.
Glossarium
- Theater of human experience: The stage upon which all of life’s paradoxes and complexities play out.
- Fantastical allure: The illusory attractiveness of regret, which traps us in its cycle.
- Mental quagmire: The complex emotional state that regret drags us into.
- Opulent forest of our presentness: Our current state of being, which regret tends to overlook.
- Flower of Acceptance: A symbolic representation of a state of being where regret is replaced by understanding and self-compassion.
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
— Lewis B. Smedes
The parchment is unfurled, the inkwell brimming. What other glimmers of human experience shall we etch upon it today?
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