My grandson downloaded a Frank Sinatra Album from iTunes yesterday. It seemed a bit out of character for someone so young, but while he was having lunch at a restaurant in our version of “Little Italy,” Sinatra was playing in the background and it enhanced his experience and he wanted to re-create it.

He has large speakers at home and was playing Sinatra through them. I began to hear “My Way,” A Song Paul Anka had written for Sinatra. Parts of the lyrics contain this phrase: “Regrets, I’ve had a few; but then again, too few to mention.”

It got me to musing about regrets.

Who wouldn’t, given the opportunity, do something differently that didn’t turn out so well? If your hand didn’t go up, you must be Mr. Spock.

We all entertain regrets.

Regrets can have a more noble purpose than walking down memory lane and beating yourself up. There can be an upside to regrets.

Seeing as we all have them, we may as well start having them work for us.

What if, every time you notice personal regret, you have that experience serve as a springboard to launch you into behavior that automatically moves you to a more creative place?

It’s an opportunity to take something that comes to you so naturally (regret) and transform it into personal growth. There is no growth attached to sitting around repeatedly running your regrets through your mind. That’s a downward spiral towards stuck.

When you notice yourself regretting something, allow your mind to throw a creative switch that triggers new ways of outgrowing stuck behavior. All you have to do is rehearse a little bit.

Here is a very powerful exercise: Think about a time that you were exceptionally creative. Make it a time when creativity was flowing through you like water through a fire hose. Make up the experience if you have to. The objective is to get a sense of what creativity feels like in your body. After some rehearsal, you’ll be able to produce that feeling on command. Now, think of something you regret. Start with a small one. The minute you feel the regretful feelings, throw the switch and bring the creative feeling into your body. Do this over and over again until regret begins to trigger creativity automatically.

Then move up to a bigger regret and repeat the process. With just a little bit of concentrated practice, you can train your mind to have your natural regrets trigger creative solutions – ones that bring enough joy to make your regrets too few to mention.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

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