The Power of Regret

Honesty and humility are qualities that can guide us in a new direction.

Many songs have been written about regret, but few have the power of a tune called “Hurt.” It was written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and then recorded by the great Johnny Cash.

“I wear this crown of thorns / Upon my liar’s chair.” Cash sings these lines in his deep baritone, looking old and close to death. “Full of broken thoughts / I cannot repair.”

Regret. It’s a powerful emotion.

One that is common to us all.

Looking back, we have regrets about things we have done and things we failed to do. We regret our moral failures right along with our failures to embrace promising and positive opportunities. Like Johnny Cash, we are “full of broken thoughts,” ruminating on things we “cannot repair.”

Regret is hard to handle, but it is not a bad emotion. In fact, it has the power to improve our lives. Daniel Pink has written a book called The Power of Regret, one that explores how regret can help us to make...