Okay , who here has never made a mistake ? The answer is , of course , no one . Mistakes are not just a fact of life , they are an important part of the learning process . However , regretting our mistakes day in and day out is not healthy . We need to learn from them and then move on . But do not take my word for it . One of America's most famous and influential writers and thinkers , Ralph Waldo Emerson , said it much better than I can . Before we hear his famous statement , let's talk about some words he used in it . When Emerson says “blunders and absurdities ,” he simply means mistakes . To do something filled with peaceful feelings is to do something “serenely .” However , to be “encumbered ” is the opposite . This means to be heavy and loaded down with things . To Emerson , those “things ” are past mistakes , or as he calls them “your old nonsense .” Now , here's Bryan Lynn reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous quote . To this day , many people use this quote to remind themselves not to dwell in the past . When we dwell on something , we think about it constantly . It becomes a distraction and keeps us from moving forward . Now , this famous quote is useful , but it is a bit long . Perhaps you would rather use a shorter , food-related idiom to help you move on and forget your past mistakes . In that case you can say , “Don't cry over spilt milk .” When we “cry over spilt milk ,” we are upset or sad about something bad we have done that cannot be undone . This is another way of saying , “What's done is done . You cannot change the past . So stop thinking about it .” If you spill milk , you cannot gather it back up and put it back in the container . We usually use the expression this way : “There's no use crying over spilled milk .” “Spilled ” or “spilt ” are both okay . Some say , this expression was first used in the mid-1600s in England . Back then , the expression was “no weeping for shed milk .” If old quotes and food expressions are still not working for you , there are other ways to state this idea . Let's say past regrets continue to trouble your boss . You can use a word we heard earlier – dwell . You might tell your boss : “Don't dwell on the past . You cannot change it , so why worry about it ? You must move on and look toward the future .” This is all very polite . And the word “dwell ” works well here as it is somewhat formal . It's good for a pep talk with your boss . But what if one of your close friends is having the same kind of problem ? What if this friend has been stuck in the past for far too long ? They need a very different type of pep talk . It may be time for you to tell your friend , “Get over it !” Now , this could sound rude . After all , it is a wake-up call , a warning to change for the better . And those can be hard for people to hear and accept . But if someone has been crying over spilt milk for months , or even years , a wake-up call is necessary . You keep your tears in a jar . Ain't it beautiful how different we are ...