Why Mistakes Are Good for Us

Have you ever made a mistake and wished that you hadn’t?
Stupid question, right? Of course you have! We all have.
Well, let me propose to you that you’ve had regrets like that for the last time!

I believe that part of our life purpose is to learn certain things. These things may very well disguise themselves in the shape of obstacles and so-called failures. One of life’s big challenges is learning to decode them, to turn poison into medicine, and to learn to perceive obstacles, problems, and so-called failures as exciting challenges and opportunities for growth and evolvement instead.

If we were simply able to say “I made an experience” instead of “I made a mistake” every time we experienced “failure” in our lives, perhaps we would then automatically look at ourselves and those mistakes and failures in a completely different light?
Failure is a matter of perception.

Mistakes are good for us. They point out things that we need to look at. They are there to remind us not to fall asleep behind the wheel. They lead us further along the road to becoming even better at what we do so that we can go on to teach others, which is a great gift.

Mistakes are there to inspire us and encourage us to keep moving and keep feeding our Soul and our mind—to keep living!

Nobody is perfect—whatever that means. Luckily, we all make mistakes every now and again, no matter how smart, how well trained, and how experienced we are. When we do, we feel terrible and stupid and we think that we are all alone in making mistakes, and so we have a tendency to put ourselves down.

Don’t knock yourself on the head. Recognize the experience for what it is—a loud wake-up call! Consider what happened and why. Constructively evaluate yourself. Take responsibility; learn and move on.

Remind yourself that learning and evolving is exciting. The day we don’t do that anymore is going to be a sad and, most of all, very boring day. So be grateful that in this case you had a chance to learn something. Was it uncomfortable at the time? Probably... So cringe, if you must, then have a laugh, dust yourself off and move on. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

Life is all about choices. No matter what kind of choices we make, there will be rough patches. Those are valuable lessons. They tell us about ourselves, our needs and passions, and our ever-evolving place in the world. Relish those choices and those lessons. Be grateful every day for the wisdom they represent. It’s yours for the keeping and for the sharing with other people.
Allow yourself to dream and think big, dare something worthy, make loads of mistakes along the way—and fill up your knowledge box to the brink!

Look at it this way: each time you make a mistake, it is like making a deposit into your bank account. Your knowledge expands and grows until one day you have so much in your account that you can afford to share freely with others. The more you give out, the more you will get back. So your wealth is automatically growing and expanding even more. And it all started with a few mistakes. Cool, right?

Think of times in your life where a mistake or a major challenge turned out to be a blessing in disguise. What did you learn from these situations? How did they turn out to your advantage? How did you benefit in the end?

Next time you feel that you’ve made a mistake, simply smile and be happy that you just made a huge deposit into you experience account. Think about how rich you are and how much more you can afford to share with others.

Indeed, mistakes are good for us – they make us who we are and often account for our most valuable treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Suzann Rye 2009