In order for people to be happy, sometimes they have to take risks. It's true these risks can put them in danger of being hurt.

Fear these risks, and you fear the eternal pursuit of happiness. The past may "haunt" you, but the truth remains that you aren't living in the past. Nor the future. You are living NOW.

As much as you wish you could right your wrongs, go back and fix a problem, a mistake, a relationship, anything, the fact remains that you can't.

Work to do what you can in your current climate. Sometimes those risks pay off. Sometimes they don't. You shouldn't let your fear prevent you from doing something that could make you happier than ever before.

A painful memory is the only reason we can distinguish happy from sad, anyway. Like it has been said before "those who do not learn from the past, are destined to repeat it."

Live with the pain, and make it your tool. If you know something that went wrong in the past, all you have to do is try never to make the same mistake again.

And even if you do, it isn't the end of the world. Death is the only end in sight. And like the pain, it is an inevitability. Don't fear either, just accept.

And fight back. For as long as you are able, you have full control over your decisions, and your actions. You choose whether you want to be happy or not.

Some things may prevent you from doing what you really want to... some mistakes can't even be made up for. Some things stand in the way, unmoving.

"What then?" you say. "I want that back... that feeling that I had... that person, that place, that idea... I want to hold it again."

If you can find no other way, then move on. One day, it is possible, that feeling will come back. It doesn't only have to come from one source. It can be one or many at once, but every feeling that you want is suspended in the world around you, waiting for you to reach out and grab it.

The reins are yours for the taking. Where will you steer your life?