Okay, we all have had the opportunity to at least fantasize about having the ability to wish for something and magically have it happen, then and there! As a child I had a wild imagination and would wish for things to happen, mostly ‘play-play’, and it was fun! There were times where I’d be so mad with my family or friends and I’d wish for terrible things to happen to them, thank God those wishes never came true – phew!
So what is it about ‘Aladdin’s lamp‘ or the ‘genie in the bottle’ that gets us so excited? The idea that we can have endless resources at our fingertips with no strings attached, or endless power to command whatever we want, or was it just a fun thing to do as a kid?
Now that I myself am an adult I finally realize that adults too wish they had the ability to conjure up a magical creature to grant their wishes. I think our biggest reason for this is regret. We make poor decisions and choices that can often cause us great pain and suffering. We live with if only’s and I should have’s and we ruin our emotions by reliving those bad moments of life.
As a young child there is very little regret we can have, because we haven’t really lived long enough to make stupid mistakes like mom and dad… I think far too often as adults we to a large degree live in our own little fairy tale/make believe world where we can escape to a present time where we didn’t make those poor choices and we actually live perfect lives.
The very harsh reality is that irrespective of your age, gender, skin colour, cultural heritage, belief structures and moral codes, you will experience regret, it is inevitable. The secret is not trying to find a genie in a bottle or a time machine to reverse and ‘re-do’ or relive that moment, but rather to admit the mistake, deal with the consequences and take it on the chin like a ‘big boy/girl’, and learn from those mistakes, pressing onward to a brighter future.
If you had one wish, would it be to right a wrong or to wish for a better future?
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