Mistakes

Mistakes.........we all make them no matter how well intentioned, "wise", learned, old or pragmatic we may be.  In the process of making selections from the myriad of choices that come our way we are bound to once in a while make an error in judgement.  We are, after all, human and subject to making human mistakes.

Sometimes the ego gets caught up in wanting the newest, shiniest bauble - even when it doesn't make sense for our lives (buyer's remorse).  Sometimes we allow others to influence our decisions and we make choices that really aren't in alignment with who we really are and in the process give away some of our power.  Sometimes the choices we make are of greater consequence than acquiring things, and have an impact on others that in retrospect may  have been a huge mistake and may require making amends.  Perhaps the most difficult mistakes are the ones we make that are harmful to ourselves on a very personal level.

We tend to label choices that turn out not as we desired as "mistakes", but really each of these choices is a learning lesson - great information about how to do it better the next time.  If we continually make choices that are harmful to ourselves then it may be time to look at the reasons behind our behavior.  When life has sent us messages that we are not loved or lovable and we mistakenly believe and internalize this as true, then we may make our choices about our worth that are filtered through this mistaken perspective.  If our choices in how to be are consistently self defeating, addictive in harmful ways then it is evident that we have lost our sense of self worth and self love.

When we make a mistake it seems to activate the voice of our inner judge - who is more than willing to beat us up over doing such a bit of nonsense.  In reality it is always best to quiet the inner chatter and move beyond the inner judgement and get to the lesson as soon as possible to be able to put it behind us and move forward from a wiser, stronger, more empowered and compassionate place.

In life it is true that real wisdom comes out of learning from our mistakes and then applying what has been learned to our future choices.  Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from making a few mistakes along the way and learning from them.  One of the things that defines our character is how we handle the mistakes that we have made.  We can let the mistake define us and our behavior in a negative way or use it as impetus for good in our lives.

We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past.  It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes - to find compassion for ourselves and move on.  We must always remember that we are not our mistakes, we are not our struggles and each of us is here NOW with the power to shape each day and our future with the wisdom gained by having made mistakes.