“Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain… To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices – today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.” ~ Kevyn Aucoin
“I’m selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I’m out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.” ~ Marilyn Monroe
First of all I’d like to say thank you for even reading this article. With a title like that I commend you for raising your hand and saying, “I want to know how to make better mistakes”. Kudos to you right from the start. You already have set yourself apart from the masses and I’m proud of you.
Secondly, I want to say mistakes are part of life. They happen. You drop the ball, you break a commitment, you hurt someone, you lose something valuable to you, or you fall flat on your face in front of a crowd. Ouch! We’ve all been there. These things will happen to you so the most important skill is how you handle them when they do.
Here are 5-steps for making the best possible mistakes.
- Be Courageous
Have the courage to make really big mistakes. The bigger the mistake the better the lesson. Small mistakes give you small information so go for it 100%! You are not helping yourself by always pulling on the reins of life because you are afraid something won’t work out. Give it all you have so life can return the favor.
- Trust Yourself
Too often we interpret mistakes as “wrong”. You doubt your ability to make the right choice, to hear your inner guidance, to trust you have what it takes when mistakes happen. Stop it! Mistakes are part of the process. The Native Americans had a saying about rain – they say the raindrops look random from our point of view but with enough distance the pattern would be apparent.
Trust yourself, trust your process, and trust the universe. With distance the pattern will become visible. Perhaps that “mistake” was the only way to get you to a point of transformation that eventually delivered the outcome you wanted. There might have been no other way to get there from where you started.
- Accept Your Mistakes
Embrace your mistakes. Take responsibility for them. They are yours: not someone else’s, not the result of a bad economy, and not the fault of outside influences. Mistakes are just information. By the way, “successes” are also just information. The only difference is you like one set of information and the other one you don’t.
The funny thing about acceptance is it frees you to move on. As long as you are dodging responsibility you cannot help but be chased by it. Turn around and embrace your mistakes. Thank them for the wisdom they shared with you, take responsibility for your portion, and move on free from the burden of dragging them around.
- Clean Up Your Mess
When a mistake hurts someone else or causes any kind of destruction, clean it up. Take responsibility and apologize. Sincerely communicate that you are sorry for the mess, the hurt, or the disappointment caused by your mistake.
Facing your responsibilities and apologizing frees not only you but the other party. Release any shame, hurt, or avoidance that your mistakes have generated. You will feel lighter.
- Laugh at Yourself
One of the best ways to not take mistakes so seriously is to laugh at yourself. Mistakes are universal – we all have those oops moments so lighten up and laugh.
Allow others to laugh with you too. If you can take things lightly you will have much more fun along your journey.
“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” ~ Buddha
July’s joy-full lesson is to find joy in the process. The outcome will be what it is, but the process is directly under your control. Mistakes happen, successes happen, and both are essential to your overall life path. Embrace and enjoy.
by Heart Light Digital
