Isn’t it about time we stopped beating ourselves up over our mistakes? “Bob, our mistakes are signs of failure and take us away from our goals” you might say. “We (I) did something wrong.”
Well, let’s first define what a mistake is. Is it really something wrong or incorrect? First you took action. Sometimes imperfect action is better than no action at all. Besides, is doing something wrong our worst outcome?
Mistakes can be a genuine blessing – wise, effective teachers. They can teach us if we are aware and open ourselves up for the lessons. They redefine our goals and signal when a change of tact or belief may be appropriate. If you are acting from a state of fear or one of its assorted cousins such as judgment, hate, anger, scarcity, etc., a mistake should signal that you might, indeed, consider changing your underlying belief.
Often we focus upon our mistakes and spend energy in castigating and judging ourselves. This only takes us further into a sea of negativity, further from being in alignment with our highest or best selves. Instead, after making a mistake take a deep breath, pause and open up to asking yourself what teaching or lessons is now available for you.
You can learn much from your mistakes or you can blindly continue without any awareness simply feeling bad and beating yourself up. When you can learn and grow from your actions, they cease to be mistakes and more like as gifts or lessons.
From now on, expect that you will make mistakes, but also resolve to extract some blessing from each one. Should your mistakes affect others, quickly and sincerely apologize, but refocus upon how you can grow and become more aligned with your best or highest self.
“Try to see your “mistakes” in an entirely new light today.
“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” – John Powell
