Choosing responsibly is at the heart of creating authentic power. You can choose in this moment, for example, to continue to regret your past choices, or to examine them so that you can choose differently in the future. That is progress in the Earth School. You decide at what rate you progress. The Universe does not judge you, and is not impatient.
Emotional awareness is the first step in spiritual development.
You cannot become spiritually advanced while you are unaware of what you are feeling. Only when you become aware of everything that you are feeling at each moment, are you able to appreciate the vast range of your emotions, which I can assure you, move from love to hatred, from compassion to exploitation. It is difficult to become emotionally aware, because that requires feeling all of your emotions, and many of them are painful. The most painful of your emotions offer you the greatest potential to grow spiritually. They originate in parts of yourself that you need to locate, challenge, and heal.