Mistake? Is There Such a Thing???

“Things may happen around you and things may happen to you, but the only things that really count are the things that happen within you.  We cannot always control what happens to us.  But we can control what we think about what happens – and what we are thinking is our life at any particular moment.”  ~Eric Butterworth

As I sit here thinking about “mistakes” (and I purposely put that in quotes because I believe there are no such things!) I cannot help but think back to all of the “mistakes” I made in my life…actions taken, words spoken, even thoughts formed.  With every single one of them I think of, I can also connect it to the lesson I learned from it that made me who I am today.  Why?  Because that is how I CHOOSE to view my “mistakes.”  As lessons.  The fear of making mistakes is one of the MAIN reasons why we do not CREATE and why we do not take ACTION in our lives.

(The following is an excerpt taken from Chapter 4 of my new book due out this summer with Balboa Press, “Living the Fearless Life: The Choices of Sustainable Joy” – ENJOY!)

Once you begin to understand that everything in life happens for a reason, you begin to view the idea of “mistakes” in a very different light.  Was it really a mistake to date that person?  Was it really a mistake to take that job?  Was it really a mistake to go on that trip?

More than likely, if you would have not had those experiences you call “mistakes,” you would not be the person you are today.  You would not have the strength, the knowledge and the wisdom that makes up who you are.

We fear mistakes for many reasons; most of which are personal.  Some people fear what others think, some fear failure again, and some fear rejection.  The fears we have about mistakes come from our conditioning; what we were taught and what we saw as we were growing up is ingrained in the back of our minds.  Sometimes what we fear didn’t even happen to us but someone we knew and it was so impactful that it became our fear as well.

Many people view mistakes as something bad, something that should not have happened and something that made them feel a way in which they did not want.  When you make a choice that leads you down a path you did not want, instead of reliving it in your mind and going over and over it again as we all do, begin to look at mistakes as opportunities to learn.  Your only purpose here on earth is to grow.  There are no accidents and there are no mistakes.  A mistake is only a “mistake” if you did not learn and grow from it.  When you fret over a mistake and keep re-playing it in your mind, all you are doing is drawing the energy and vibration of that mistake to your present time.  What you think about most you bring about, so if that is the case and you are thinking constantly about how you said or did the wrong thing, guess what you will attract to you?  Guess what will happen again?  BINGO…that very same “mistake!”

Instead, think about what you learned and take that with you and leave the experience behind.  Stop dragging the entire experience with you to relive over and over again.  Ask yourself, “What can I do differently in this situation next time?”  Then, the next time you are presented with a situation that is similar, you can pause, remember your “mistake” from last time and make a different choice.  Mistakes are proof that you are trying and moving forward!

“If I had my life to live over…I’d dare to make more mistakes next time.”  ~Nadine Stair

Affirmation for Today:
I ask that all effects of mistakes and misunderstandings be undone, both in the past and the present.  And so it is…