The link between regrets and happiness

In following up with yesterday’s blog, I feel that the intensity of regrets should always be associated with the degree of happiness (or unhappiness) they might cause.

In fact, there are two issues with regrets. There are decisions that entail foreseeable consequences and those decisions for which the outcome is impossible to anticipate.

As an example, we once purchased two adjoining beautiful building lots in a new development and instead of keeping each one separate, we decided to built a home straddling both. This was a mistake that was understandable from the get-go, but that we choose to ignore.

I’ve made many more decisions in which the end result was basically impossible to foretell, because it is too subjective or too hard to quantify, and it almost amounted to a coin-toss.

In fact, it would end up being like tossing a coin if I didn’t feel very strongly about it, like through elements like intuition, passion or very specific dispositions. When decision are made on that basis, regrets are seldom part of the end-result.

In conclusion, if you want to make regret-free decisions, always look at their impact on your happiness as you define it. You will seldom go wrong!