We all make mistakes.
What makes all the difference to whether we feel happy or not is how we react to them.
Do we get annoyed, feel guilty or embarrased or even subconsciously attack the person we feel might be annoyed with us?
Or do we take a step back and look at what really happened, so we can learn from the mistake?
Personally, having a not-so-secret perfectionist streak, I used to be a member of the “beat yourself up for days / weeks / eternity” brigade. And I was really good at it.
The thing is, it didn’t really get me anywhere.
Sure, I developed a real talent for knowing how to make myself feel miserable, but it didn’t actually change what had happened. And I was so busy lamenting what I had done wrong that I didn’t learn from the situation or do anything to put it right.
Sound familiar?
What’s the answer?
Give yourself a break and see the mistake as a chance to learn something. Mistakes are simply a signal that there’s something we need to practice or a belief we need to change.
Think about the last “mistake” you made. What could you learn from it? Imagine you’ve learned that lesson now. How differently do you feel about the mistake? Would it help if you apologised to the other person, or even yourself?
It doesn’t matter what you have said or done, there is nothing that cannot be healed.
Love,
Clare x
