Regret can be a tenacious emotion. It's also a universal one.

People often regret inaction, or have moral and relational regrets.

Japan's Wind Phone, used to "communicate" with those who have died, offers a path to healing from regret.

Sometimes wisdom appears in the least expected places. I was walking down a busy main street in Cambridge, MA, past a homeless man who had requisitioned a park bench as his temporary abode. His hand-written sign stopped me mid-step: “Pain is temporary, regret is forever.”

The feeling is a resoundingly familiar one. About a year ago, the renowned restaurateur Keith McNally penned a best-seller whose title summed up the sentiment unforgettably: I Regret Almost Everything. As a clinical psychologist, I am often humbled by how difficult it is for people to let go of regret. People often ruminate on this emotion, returning to the story again and again over the course of a long treatment.

What Makes Us Feel Regret?

I took a look at the recent research. Regret is thought to be a universal emotion. However, it can help us learn from our mistakes, as acknowledging the mistake can guide us to make better choices. There is a wide range of what people regret. There's inaction—not taking a chance in a........

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