It's the nature of all of our lives that we have to choose, repeatedly.
And because we have to choose, it's the nature of our lives that we experience regret.
Every choice we make involves not choosing something else.
Sometimes we forget this. We try to live without regret, as if we could avoid it completely. But that forces us in turn to live without choice.
And this in turn produces a bitter new regret all of its own - the regret of a life we have chosen to freeze in place.
And so regret cannot be avoided. But we can choose to feel it rather than run from it. This way we can allow our regret to bring us its hidden message, which is to remind us that we care, and what it is that we care most about.
Avoiding regret turns out to be a way of avoiding life. And turning towards regret a way of turning back fully, towards our lives and towards ourselves.