“Je ne regrette rien”.

Brave words by Edith Piaf – yet most of us feel we have something to regret and a new book entitled ‘The Book of Regrets’* has been published. It’s a compilation of contributions by celebrities who talk about the thing they regret in life, with proceeds going to charity. Most of them (like the Archbishop of Canterbury who wished he had approached W.H Auden in a teashop) regretted things they didn’t do. Both Libby Purves and Bel Mooney wished they had been more adventurous and both (unsurprisingly) quoted Edith Piaf’s signature tune.

The song ‘No regrets’ was much better sung in French and Edith Piaf sang it with so much feeling despite the fact that she had a wretched life. The last line she sings is “Je repars à zero” (I’m starting again from zero), not as a statement of desperation but as an affirmation of hope, of courage and life as she entered a new relationship.

That’s really good advice for anyone – not just in love – but in all our relationships. We can get bruised and battered along the way and carry baggage into our next situation. The result is that we anticipate or even expect failure, or we ‘read’ things into words or facial expressions that are simply not there.

That’s why Jesus was so keen to coach his followers how to avoid discouragement. He told them that if they experienced rejection they should literally shake the dust off their feet - helpful strategy for those of us who have been hurt.

Libby Purves said “Skating taught me not to wobble like a coward on the edge of life.”

And someone else (possibly Mark Twain) put it like this: “Twenty years from now you’ll be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do, than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, dream, discover “

* ‘The Book of Regrets’ by JR Books (£10.99) with royalties going to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery Development Foundation.