Learning from Erring

 

It is only when we err that we really learn.  Therefore do not become exasperated but give thanks that you have been given the opportunity to grow your soul. ~ACN

The dictionary describes “err” as “to make a mistake or do an incorrect thing”.  Now we have all done this in our lives.  This is how we learn.  We make mistakes.  Sometimes we make little mistakes but more often than not we make big mistakes.  When we make a mistake we have in actuality done an incorrect thing,   made in unwise or decision or acted in bad judgment.    We sometimes make mistakes because we have insufficient information. We seldom make a mistake intentionally.

The important thing is what we do when we have made a mistake and have become aware that we have done so.  Do we run from it, hiding once again like an ostrich with its head in the sand, do we stand up and deny we made a mistake or do we admit that we have made one? 

Obviously the right thing to do is to admit that you have made a mistake.  Stand up and take ownership of it.

Having done this, where do we go to from here?  Clearly, the ultimate should be to correct what you have done.  Now, some of it take this a step further and we take out the good old whip and beat ourselves up for making the mistake.  We harshly judge ourselves, calling ourselves names and berating ourselves for having made the mistake.  We say things like, “Oh you stupid fool!”, “You are so useless!”, “You are so dumb!” and so on. We become angry at ourselves for making the mistake.  Sound familiar?

This is so unnecessary.  Just as we should not judge others, we should not judge ourselves.  By reacting in this manner, we lower, if not destroy, our self-esteem and self-worth.  We waste valuable energy on this masochistic behaviour which could better be spent otherwise.

Mistakes are very valuable tools to us.  They are there to teach us that the particular way we did something, whether it was a physical act or a verbal one, is not correct.  Look at what you learned from making the mistake.  Ask yourself, what could I have done differently in order to not have made the mistake.  As society, we are in the process of beating ourselves up for the effects we have caused on the planet.  Not many of us are asking what we could have done differently.  Very few of us are taking action on doing things differently now to correct what has been done in the past.  And so the mistakes of the past are constantly recurring and even though some of us are doing the right thing in turning Mother Earth into a “green” environment most of us are repeating the same mistakes as our ancestors. 

So step up, take responability for your mistake, learn from it and emerge from it a wiser person.  By doing this you will allow your soul to grow.

In love and light,

Amanda

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