Oops! I Made a Mistake

Have you ever made a mistake, erred in making a choice or decision?  I don’t think there is a human being, who is honest, that can say he or she has not made a mistake; goofed up at least once in their human journey.

Having made the mistake, do you try and cover it up, or do you own up; fess up?  I fess up, but didn’t always do so.  I would spend endless energy and creatively wasted hours trying to figure out how to cover it up so that it didn’t look like it was “my mistake.”  I am not saying that I pointed fingers and blamed another, but I certainly looked for extenuating circumstances to blame for my mistake:  it was the weather and I had a migraine, so I wasn’t thinking clearly; or, I didn’t get any sleep last night, the kids kept me up, one was sick.  I think if I continue to dig deep enough I could fill a few pages of excuses that have been dreamt up over the years.

But, what is so terribly wrong in admitting I made a mistake?  Is not “to err human?” And, as the other half goes, “forgive Divine?”  There is a two part prong to the forgiveness.  Most often I found out that you’d forgiven me or heaven forbid never even felt the necessity to forgive me, because you realized that I was human and thus subject to not being “perfect.”  The other forgiveness that rarely flowed, was forgiveness of me by me!  I guess I must have always, subconsciously, thought I was the “perfect” human being; therefore, “How could I, how dare I, make a mistake!”

I read this quote in an article I was reading and it speaks volumes.  I was meant to read it, to see it and most of all to hear what it says.  I hope it gives you some pebble of truth and wisdom and understanding, mostly of and for yourself.

“It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure,” wrote Joseph John Campbell.

Having been in the abyss a few times myself; you know, made a mistaken, fallen flat on my face – I’ve learned the valuable lessons, found the treasures that otherwise I never would have uncovered.  One of the important treasures that I’ve found, that is only now being uncovered by me for me as I write this article, is an inner strength that I didn’t know existed.  Have you ever fallen so badly, so hard, that you thought there’s no way I’ll ever get up; ever recover from this?  And yet, here you are, here I am; obviously recovered, picked myself up, dusted myself off…and took that tiny timid step into a  journey of days and months and perhaps years that have gone by, since that fatal fall into the abyss.  Looking back I don’t recall even what lead up to the fall, nor even the fall itself.  What I see as clearly as looking into a mirror this very moment, is the strength and courage that arose in me; though at the time timid, it was there and it allowed me to take first one then another then another tiny step…back up out of the abyss.

When you recover from a mistake, a fall, you’ll see there is something different about you.  I certainly have and do about myself.  I found a new understanding about me, both the flaws and the strengths that had laid dormant.  First the flaw then the aid to help me up; if I but “choose” to take the hand held out that beckoned me onwards.

Oops, I’ve made a mistake; I’ve made a lot of mistakes and have no doubt that I’ll make many more before the curtain is drawn on my human life.  The only way to “avoid” making any more mistakes is to stop living; to just exist, not try anything new, not dare to do anything different or say anything out of the ordinary.  To live or exist as a robot would be the only way, and I personally would rather suffer the slings of a few mistakes to enjoy the joy of fully living.

Many of our historical folks made mistakes over and over again; but, we don’t remember that about them. We remember what they accomplished, and they accomplished by taking the treasure they garnered while in the abyss, and using it to better not only their lives but the lives of others for generations to come.

Oops I made a mistake and I am glad I shall continue to do so – for it will mean that I am indeed living, not just existing!

Remember: To err is human (you are human you know); to forgive Divine.

Forgive yourself as easily as you forgive others; easier said that done, not only according to me, but to many people whom I’ve spoke with about this business of forgiveness.