How Taking Responsibility Can Set You Free

By Mary R. Dittman, M.B.A.

If you're over 40, chances are you have at least one relationship you wish had turned out differently.

Maybe you wish you had spoken up sooner.

Maybe you wish you'd left earlier.

Maybe you wish you had never gotten involved in the first place.

Or perhaps you're still wondering what happened and why things fell apart.

Regret has a way of keeping us trapped in the past.

We replay conversations.

We revisit decisions.

We imagine alternate endings.

And sometimes we find ourselves experiencing the same heartache over and over again with different people.

The names change.

The faces change.

But the pain feels strangely familiar.

For years, I couldn't understand why certain patterns kept showing up in my relationships.

Then I learned a tool that changed the way I viewed my past.

The Question That Changed Everything

One of the most powerful exercises I've ever encountered comes from Alcoholics Anonymous.

In...