Lemme tell you lil 20-somethings something. I had a chance to be a senior editor in film and TV (eventually) and I turned it down. One of the biggest regrets of my life. But now, I wouldn't change it for the world. I'll explain why.

When you get to be in your fifties, as I am now, you do have some moments that will haunt you in your life. "Oh," you may say to yourself, "I shouldn't have said this." Or, "I spoke too much at that party."

But then you can learn a trick, especially through our friends the shamans. See, in the world of the shaman, time doesn't exist. So you can easily go back and change time. How does this work?

Let's say you had a great opportunity at your office, a huge promotion and you turned it down for one reason or another. Then ten years later, you start to think, "What if I had taken that promotion? What would I look like now? Who would I be?"

Remember, the past doesn't exist except as a memory. So, even though you meant to take one fork in the road, and then you took another, this doesn't necessarily mean you would have ended up in the right place. But I digress.

Here's what you do. Simply go back to the incident in your mind. Some shamans do an exercise where they close their eyes, enter an underground cave, and some people imagine they go down in an elevator. Once in this cave (or space), they visualize the scene, as if watching it on a movie screen. Here, they watch the regretful decision. Here, you can act like a film editor, cutting out that which you didn't like, and replacing it with something you wanted to do.

Then run this ideal scenario in your mind a few times and, viola! Congratulations! You have now successfully changed the path and the past. Venture back "up" in your elevator and open your eyes.

Wait, wait, wait. Does this mean all of a sudden your reality changes? Let's say you regret having not chosen that one boyfriend over the current psycho you're now dating. Does this mean that suddenly you're in a different apartment with a different man? Of course not. But it will start working on two levels. The first is that you will start to see nudges inching you towards the path that might have been. For example, new guys, who remind you of the one you didn't choose, will start to flirt with you. Your current bf may even start to take on qualities that remind you of the one-who-got-away. The second is that your perception of the past will change. You will start to realize that you probably did make the "right" decision. You'll become more aware of your own power in your current situation.

All of this being said, it is easier to "go with the flow." If an opportunity arises, I say at least give it a shot with an enthusiastic, 'why not?' And that's it! It can be tough to live without regrets. And that, of course, includes a huge heaping of self-forgiveness. But that's an entirely different post.