Never...

"Never start a sentence with 'I should've...'"

-- Advertisement on the wall of a bus shelter

Wisdom is where you find it when you least expect it. Especially where and when you least expect it. Walking back home from the post office (yep, I live in a neighborhood where I can walk to the post office, and most everything else, of daily importance -- wouldn't have it any other way), I glance at an old woman sitting inside a dirty bus shelter, and right there on the wall, words of wisdom pop out at me.

Why never begin a sentence with "I should've...?" First, you're about to bore people to tears. Nobody wants to hear what you should have done. Learn your lesson in silence. Secondly, you did what you did. There is no should. There's just what really happened. Reality. And here you are now in a different reality. Just quit "shoulding" on yourself, and everything will be just fine!

Next time, in a similar situation, you may respond differently. Hopefully, you'll respond differently not because you should, but because you're more in tune with what is and thus can create a more appropriate response.

And life goes on. And all the woulda, coulda, shouldas don't amount to a hill of dung. Breathe in, breathe out. What do you want to do right now?