How You Can Learn From An Old French Song

Don't worry, I'm not going to write this article in French!
It's just that when I was at school we had a French teacher
who was an admirer of the French chanteuse the late Edith
Piaf and as the end of the school year got near he would
take the opportunity to bring in his old records and play
them to us. It was a break from the normal lessons and good
way to learn some new French words.

But one of Piaf's songs particularly stood out with me and
I've always remembered it. It was called "Non, Je Ne
Regrette Rien", which means "No, I regret nothing". But why
am I telling you this?

Well simply it sums up the way you should approach life.
Most of us make mistakes and take some wrong decisions in
our lives. Not everything goes the way we would like or
runs smoothly to plan. You probably have lots of "what ifs"
and "if onlys" playing on your mind. Most people do. And
sadly, that's where they go wrong, because no matter what
you have done in the past you cannot change it.

What's done is done, and no matter how much you may regret
it and wish you could change what happened, the fact is you
just can't!

The problem is that while you continue to have these
thoughts your subconscious mind will continue to use them
as a way of holding you back. You need to re-program your
mind to take on a "will do" attitude instead of a "what if"
one. You cannot change what has happened but you can decide
what to do today. And you can influence what happens in the
future. You just have to take action.

Let me give you an example:

One of the most common regrets that people have is that
they wish they had worked harder at school and had achieved
higher grades and better qualifications. Then they would
not be stuck in the dead-end job they find themselves in.

The trouble is they usually just say to themselves "if
only" and then carry on just the same. They accept their
situation because in their minds they believe they are
there because of something they did in the past and their
mind is happy to accept it because they regret it. The fact
is, it is their fault that they are in that dead-end job!
But not because of what they did in the past, but rather
what they do not do today.

There are so many opportunities to study to achieve what
you want in life regardless of what you are doing now and
what age you are. You can go back to college, join an
evening class on one of the hundreds of subjects available,
enroll on a correspondence course through the mail, or sign
up for an online course. There are so many ways of learning
about new topics, developing new skills, and discovering
new experiences. You simply have to make the decision today
to do something!

I guess that you have already taken that step because you
have chosen to read this article. But you must progress
further. And it is vital that you understand that you must
regret nothing and instead learn from what has gone before.
So decide what you want today and take the steps necessary
to get it.

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This article was written by Tony Hall who runs his own
business dedicated to helping individuals develop their
personal and business skills. You can learn more about how
to develop your own life skills by signing up for his
weekly newsletter at:
http://www.selfimprovementskills.com/newsletter.html