replaying the fork — «if only» · about a choice, not your worth — ease the heat, then look at the fork
Name it i
How strong? 0–10
What’s happening? optional
Ease the heat i
the heat in the face settles first — then you can talk to yourself
core = ships with the app · yours = you made it · nothing of yours for regret yet — adopt one and it goes first with ★ your plan
The fork i
Knowing what you knew THEN — was it a fair call?
What would you choose now?
you judge a choice by the data of THAT day — not today’s
Close it i
5 → 2 · −3
«if only» keeps rewriting one old day — the rule you just drafted writes the next one
Everyone feels all of this. Prime is how fast you come back.
mechanism
Regret is the mind replaying a fork: you took one road and it keeps simulating the other. The simulation is unfair by design — the road not taken has no problems, because it was never lived. Its useful function is to extract a rule for next time; everything beyond that is the loop running without an exit.
not to confuse with
guilty: someone was harmed and repair is owed · ashamed: the verdict is on who you are · grieving: the loss is external and final, not a choice · disappointed: the world did not match the picture, and you did not choose it
in the body
tightness in the chest, the same scene on repeat, sleep interrupted by the replay
feel it
Let the fork be looked at once, honestly, including what you actually knew at the time. The replay wants to be watched; it does not need to be believed.
what to do
Extract the rule and close the loop: what would you do differently, stated in one line for the future. If nothing would change given what you knew then, say that out loud — that is the honest end of the replay.
don't
do not judge the past decision by present knowledge — you did not have it then · do not run the alternative timeline in detail: it is fiction, and it always wins · no big compensating decisions tonight
if you do nothing
The fork keeps replaying and starts to colour new decisions: you begin choosing to avoid regret rather than to get something. That is how people end up with lives assembled entirely out of safe options.
after
the rule you extracted is the only durable product of regret — write it where you will see it · if the same fork replays for months, it may be grief about the road, not regret
your track
4 episodes · median 6 → 3 · most replayed fork: leaving the job late · best tool: extract the rule ✓3
keys
0–9 set the scale · enter = next step · d = tool done · esc = close dialogs
+ add your own · open in Library: practices →