"Regret could be overdue for its own rebranding. At a time when mass illness has made us more aware of our mortality, when yesterday’s carbon emissions are tomorrow’s extreme weather events and when ignoring histories of oppression can seem like endorsing them, a look back might be the way to move forward. We might find lessons lurking in moments we’ve pushed from the light. Regret has long been considered a sign of weakness, but what if we saw it as a strength?

"In the book “The Power of Regret,” ... writer Daniel H. Pink makes a case for embracing the experiences we’d rather forget.... Pink has spent the past 18 months gathering and analyzing thousands of regrets. He likens the experience to looking at 'a photographic negative of the good life.'

"The idea of regret as a force for good has already been circulating in academic psychology. Amy Summerville, who led Miami University’s Regret Lab for 11 years, points to Neal Roese’s seminal 1994 paper, “The Functional Basis of Counterfactual Thinking,” which suggested that thinking about how a scenario might’ve gone better can improve future outcomes.

"Summerville says'regret is analogous to physical pain. Pain is a signal from our body that something is wrong. It’s something that keeps us safe from ourselves. I think regret is really functional in that same way.'

"That idea has yet to reach the mainstream. 'Americans are over-indexed on positive emotions,' says Pink. 'We feel like a good life is a life devoid of any kind of pain and discomfort, and we’re wrong.' - Kelsey Ables

Book Review: You’ve Been Told to Let Go of the Past. But Can Regret be Good for You?