LIVE THE LIFE YOU LOVE

Ilove to make mistakes! Really I do. I wasn’t always like this.

When you look for the hidden opportunity in mistakes, the opportunity for growth and happiness becomes clear. Let me explain.

While raising my three boys, I sometimes jumped to a conclusion and blamed the wrong child for doing something bad.

I recall a few times when my oldest son, with big brown eyes would say, “But mommy I didn’t do that” while my other son eventually admitted guilt.

I felt horrible about my actions. I made a mistake by yelling and I made a bigger mistake by blaming the wrong kid.

It wasn’t easy for me to admit this. But I knew that learning from my missteps and errors would be a crucial part of my personal growth and development as a parent and a person.

The most important lesson we can take from our mistakes is what meaning they have for our future happiness.

Try these tips to find meaning in your mistakes:

Admit You Messed Up.

It was painful for me to admit I was wrong in my role as parent.

From that pain I learned to be more careful in how I handle situations. The first thing I had to do was admit I messed up.

If you like to blame or shame it will be impossible for you to learn.

It takes courage to admit you messed up.

Once I did, I was able to learn and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Mistakes are a natural part of trying something new. Being able to accept this will help you learn more and reach your full potential.

Being able to admit your mistakes also allows you to develop more humility and empathy.

Make Better Mistakes

Because mistakes are opportunities to learn in life, the types of errors you make may be teaching the wrong lessons.

Making silly or dumb mistakes just means you aren’t paying attention in life.

Making more complex mistakes means you are pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. This is a good thing.

Your time is better spent learning from more interesting, complex mistakes because they have more to teach you.

Put yourself into new positions. You will fail. You will falter. You will open yourself up to confronting behaviors and beliefs about yourself. And your life will transform and evolve for your own benefit.

Finding Meaning

Mistakes are life’s lessons.

What you choose to learn will determine how much you grow over time as well as how willing you are to continue making new mistakes so you can achieve your life goals and dreams.

Next month’s topic: How to ask for help and get it.