We’ve all been there before. A decision we made which, with hindsight, was something that we would gladly change, should physicists stop playing particle marbles at CERN and really put their minds to inventing reliable time travel. It can’t be that difficult, Marty McFly was doing it in the 1980s.

Of course, such decisions could actually have been the result of inaction; the fear of failure or of change causing a paralysis of decisive thought. It just seemed easier to keep things as they are. Why take a chance?

Whether decisions seem more trivial or involve major shifts in circumstance, the mechanics behind our thought processes are essentially the same. It’s about balancing risk versus reward. The only difference between each of us and the paths we take in life are ultimately how accurately we judge that balance.

Maybe you still think about that partner you once had, the ‘one that got away’. If you’d have done things differently, who’s to say that you wouldn’t now be living in family bliss in a converted barn in the countryside? Although possibly you may actually have had a lucky escape from marital strife and a son who makes Bart Simpson look well-adjusted. Continue reading →