Wiley coyote can teach us a lot regrets part two

 What You Might Learn From Wiley Coyote-Regrets Part II

So in the previous entry we looked at regrets in general and the suggestion  was that everybody has them, however, they can be processed instead of remaining a source of constant discomfort or discontent.  The idea that most all regrets could be grouped into one of four main root types was introduced and the first of these outlined.  Foundational regrets were described as a type of regret that pretty much expressed the belief  that a person  is unhappy because  he hadn’t learned something younger that might come in handy now.  Or it might be that she wished  she had studied harder to get a better job etc…. In short actions taken in the past hadn’t formed the foundation  now needed to make some choices.  Well… we will revisit that type of regret and others  in coming days, however for now you can go back and ask yourself the questions asked if you have these types of regrets…we have a second type to cover today.

The Bold and the beautiful?

Daniel Pink in his book about the power of regrets says a second type of regret is related to “Boldness.”

If you look back and think I should have (……fill in the blank) Or “I wish I would have had the guts to……” then these are “boldness” regrets.  Here are some thoughts.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.  Often times when you have the courage to say out loud what you are trying to do….others will join, support, and applaud you effort and from time to time guarantee your success.  If experience is the best teacher then if you won’t chance experiencing something then you can’t learn the lessons needed to to do it.  Remember  when you learned to ride a bicycle?  It meant pedaling fast enough to keep your balance and that was scary.  Then again you learned that doing just that going faster than you were comfortable with made it easy (unless your dad didn’t explain how the brakes worked lol).  

What Wiley can teach us…

Now the arch enemy of the Roadrunner had some nefarious schemes assisted by the “Acme” company and he probably regrets investing in some of the contraptions he devised—but who wouldn’t have liked to strap on the rocker roller skates…come on?  But I digress…. 

Time after time Wiley went charging off the cliff and time after time it seemed as though he was going to bridge the chasm with ease… and then he realized he wasn’t on solid ground and halted his momentum and poof…there he went down like a stone.  You see he lost his boldness….. 

What causes us to lose our boldness?  

Well sometimes we worry about what others might think.  We don’t want others to see us fail.  Here’s the thing about that.  Most people are too busy with themselves to care about you that much.  Some of the people who do care enough about what you are doing will help as stated above and the rest really don’t have a great life if they are so worried about what you are doing.  Also if you aren’t trying something because of your ego and you are worried about what others think you have already shown your big ego by thinking  the whole world is watching..   Blessed are the meek.  

Sometimes people worry about being in the spotlight by being bold.  Again think about what happens if no one stands up and shines….. that leaves everyone in the dark.   Have you ever been to a dance where no one is dancing until two  or four people get up and risk it?   What happens?  Yep pretty soon the dance floor is full and good dancers and wannabes alike are out there having fun.  

So summarizing today

Sometimes seeking peace and joy and processing  and avoiding  regrets is like riding a bike and once you get the idea that you can deal with  a discomfort well no regrets are like riding a bike you won’t forget.

Next don’t be afraid to take the leap even when there’s not ground beneath you….but when you do carry it through and before you run for the cliff put down the anvil of hate and the past.   Oh and life is dance so grab a partner or two or three and slide to the left, slide to the right, spin around and smile because that. Is what it means to be ‘stayin’ Alive…stayin alive.”

More soon