Regret is Aimless Whining

I am a naturally regretful person. Usually a day or so after I've had a conversation with a person, I revisit the discourse in my mind and pore over the things I said with the scrutiny of an auditor. And then I realize that I'm an ass because I say the stupidest things.

Here's how my porings-over usually go:
When I said "such and such", I can see how it could've been interpreted as "some other such and such"...that would explain why my partner-in-discourse seemed to laugh nervously just after I said it. Good Heavens! How I've humiliated myself! What must he think of me after having heard that sputtered nonsense? Or maybe it wasn't nonsense... Perhaps it was even insulting to him since he believes in "this thing" and my statement was a callous assault on his foundation of understanding. I am truly an ass' ass.

I've been working really hard at curbing this self-destructive tendency, but old habits die hard.

I was at the 7-Eleven a few minutes ago and my favorite cashier was there--a Filipino lady with a genuine smile and a penchant for intellectual honesty. We'd previously had a series of short conversations about her origins, her present situation, and her opinion of the difference. Since I know that she prefers her homeland to her current habitation, and that I am much of the same opinion, I asked her "Do you ever feel that you're wasting time?"

She responded with an emphatic "No! You have to make the best of what life gives you." Bear in mind that my question was asked after her admission that she'd not visited her home in 8 years and that her father died and was buried in her absence.

What a poison regret is. What fruit does this labor bear other than nuggets of grief? To regret is to wish that the past were not so. What else can be done to the past, but to pull out memories for contemplation? Don't mourn unchangeable things. Take charge of your capacity to manipulate those things still-changeable!