Mistakes happen for a reason. When you’re in the middle of having something horrible happen to you it doesn’t feel good. You feel like “How did this happen to me?” or, “I can’t believe I messed up so bad, what is wrong with me?” Self-blame. Criticism. The ego always goes to self-blame, never to what we can learn. Blame only comes from the ego – it doesn’t come from your source, or from your spirit self. There is no blame from Spirit, only lessons. I’m not saying if a natural disaster or other tragedy occurs that there is some meaning or reason for that. I don’t pretend to know everything. I think sometimes bad things just happen. The blunders I’m talking about are making a mistake at work that ends up costing you your job or giving a report to a client that you thought was fantastic, but they said it was way off base. Ugh. Red-faced. Embarrassed. Angry. It’s about the times that leave a trail of nausea in the pit of your stomach, making you feel about 2” high. These boo boos happen to us all but can make us feel alone in our mistakes. And, accompanying this feeling, there’s usually a sense of shame and regret. Note: These are your soul’s warning signs to *pay attention* because there needs to be learning and course correction. This isn’t the time to avoid the matter or to not take ownership. Often when we mess up, it is embarrassing, and we come down on ourselves harder than anyone from the outside. It is important to own up to our mistakes, to apologize if necessary and take the next steps.
What are the next steps? Be honest with yourself and ask, “What can I learn from this?” When we are in the throes of an issue or something has gone wrong (and something always does, at one time or another) we need to step back and understand the lesson. “Why did this happen to me now, at this time in my life?” This is so we can repair whatever broken pieces there are and move forward in a more complete and transformed way. It is essentially the process of life – finding the broken pieces and repairing them. It’s not always comfortable and it doesn’t always feel good, but it’s essential for our soul’s growth. That is why we are here – to make mistakes. After all, earth is the classroom of life. Nobody gets 100 on every assignment. At times, there are things circled in red on your paper and you say “Rats, I thought that was really good”. But there’s always room for improvement for everyone. I’ll tell you a little story. I was recently at the UPS store. I needed to mail a package and there was a line. I took my place in line and started to fidget on my phone, look around and wonder how long this was going to be. After waiting five – ten minutes I realized I had a choice to make. I could get annoyed, arrogant and wonder why *I* had to wait so long or I could settle into the waiting. I chose option number two. I asked myself why I was here at this moment. What was I supposed to be learning? As I stood in this line for close to 30 minutes, I realized this was all about patience. Believe it or not, I am not always the most patient person in the world and it is something I am working on. Instead of getting mad and being frustrated, I had an opportunity to work on myself. The Universe always presents you with opportunities, you just need to pay attention to them. As I stood in line for a good length of time, I was smiling because I had risen above the ego and the exasperation and was able to just be in the moment and be at peace. #Winning.
So next time something irritating happens and you feel disappointed or let down, take comfort in knowing that you’re not alone. Everyone on this earth has experienced something similar at one point or another. This is a signal from the Universe and from your soul that this is your opportunity to grow. It’s like if you were cooking an amazing meal. Before you set the meal out to friends, you do some tasting along the way. Perhaps it needs more salt, or there’s not enough vegetables or you need to cook it a bit longer. As you go along transforming your dish there are adjustments to be made. That doesn’t mean that you’re a terrible cook – it just means you’re imperfect and you are seasoning the dish as you go. That’s what we’re all doing here. We’re cooking ourselves until we’re good and ready to be served. Ok that’s a weird analogy, but you get the point. Just know that we’re all here learning and whenever mistakes are made, the important part is not to spend a lot of time getting down on yourself. Instead ask yourself, “What can I learn from this and how can I move on to make it better for next time?”. That’s my motto – Keep moving forward. Don’t stay stuck in the past ruminating on your errors – move forward and use each setback as an opportunity for growth and abundance. Don’t let the lack of seasoning in your dish hold you back. We’re all here standing at the stove trying to make the best meal we can. Don’t give up on yourself – your dish is already fantastic.
Author: Mari Cartagenova
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