Is regret meaningful?

I just got done watching the movie Magnolia with a bunch of friends. One of the main themes in the movie we talked about is that we should use regret to improve ourself. Regret is something we should keep a hold of so it doesn't turn into a faded memory, leading to making the same mistake again.

So my question is what kind of person are you? Do you believe regret is worth holding on to, or do you think one should live a life of "no regrets"?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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You can use regret as a lesson for future situations, but once you learn the lesson, its best you discard the regret.

Do think the lesson will have the same potency if you discard the regret though? It seems like the more time would pass, the more you may think back and say "oh it wasn't that bad" and possibly make the same mistake...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

When I was having this discussion with my friends (about 5 them), it was interesting that I was the only one with a significant regret. No one else claimed to have one.

I guess a better question is what kind of things should you regret. I know that for a lot of mistakes I make, I may not necessarily regret it since the mistake did teach me something.

I guess I would have to define regret as something you wish you could go back and change, regardless if it was helpful in learning a lesson or not. So is this kind of regret OK? The kind in which you wish you could change the past? Is it OK to have a desire to change your past, or should you just accept everything as it happened?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

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It is very much akin to the placebo effect. If you "impress" (that is the best term that I can think of to describe this method) upon your thoughts that you must, or must not, feel a certain way, given a certain situation, eventually your brain will rewire itself to conform to this manner of thinking.

The reason the placebo effect works is because the person thinks that an outside influence will change them. The person doesn't "impress" upon their mind that this outside influence will change them, they're told that it will. Thus, the expectation that it will work is what makes it work. This is completely different then simply "convincing" yourself that guilt can be removed, because there's nothing to give you the expectation that it can be removed since it all takes place in your mind without an outside influence.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?