Another common emotion is worry.

Worry is just as useless as regret, the difference being in the direction of time.

Worry is about trying to control the future, and just like regret, trying to control anything goes against the flow and is rather frustrating.

“But… What about free-will? Don’t we have control over our own destiny?”

Well, sorta kinda. You do have control over your destiny, but within the realms of your past behaviors, actions, and thoughts.

For instance, you might be a human being right now, and as much as you may want and try, it’s unlikely you become a cat or a dog today.

The same goes with situations with other people. You may desire something out of them, but what about what they want?

Thus, not only is worry useless, it’s also harmful to you, and often harmful to others as well.

The emotion of worry appears when we are attached to a future outcome, which, in the grand scheme of things, is pretty unrelated to our own, free-will.

“I hope it will be sunny tomorrow! I hope the teacher won’t look at my homework tomorrow! I hope the stock market will go up tomorrow!”

Either way, it’s future and external, thus outside our realms of control.

How to deal with worry?

The past is over and cannot be changed. The same way, (most of) the future cannot be changed because we’re not the only one involved in its transformation.

The only thing we have power over, is the present moment. The only thing we can do, is do our best, right now, in whatever we do.

If we get what we wanted, great. If we don’t, that’s great too. Either way, there cannot be any regret, because we did our best at all times.