How many of us regret wasted years, time spent doing stupid things, relating to wrong people. But we must realize that we were where we had to be given our state of consciousness. Everything is the product of circumstances and conditions which brought us to that point. Neither blame nor shame (as the saying goes) should label the past. We are like a fruit that cannot be ripe until an inevitable passage of time (or consciousness) has come to be, like a flower that cannot bloom until the right moment. And that time or moment varies with each of us and should not be rued, anymore than the time for the fruit or flower should be rued. We should remember, too, that when they ripen or bloom, it will only be for a little while before the fruit decays and the flower withers.
journal of reflections by the resident of the Hermitary