Mistakes — A Path to Our Highest Good?

There is a saying many of us are familiar with, "Everything happens for our highest good". I believe there is some truth in this statement because on a higher level everything that happens to us supports our enlightenment and evolution. On a human level we may not make the highest choices as we have free will to choose our thoughts and to act on these thoughts. Most of us will make mistakes because this is how we learn and review those choices afterwards. The key is not to dwell on our perceived past mistakes, because they have made you who you are today. It is my belief that mistakes support our path to our highest good.

As we grow from childhood to adulthood, we can become serious in nature. As we are growing up, other people can affect our self-esteem through teasing and bullying. We may miss opportunities through lack of self worth or fear and beat up ourselves about it later. It's okay to not be perfect; in fact nothing on the earth plane is perfect. Stumbling around in the dark is part of our journey and something that helps us to grow and ultimately makes us more compassionate toward our self and others.

With awareness you can learn from past mistakes and make more enlightened choices in the future. Sometimes we need to experience the pain and drama to make us realize that we don't want this in our lives. Pain and suffering can be a great teacher. The Buddha said "Pain is inevitable, suffering is a choice". Whatever happens to us in our lives, we always have a choice how we respond to it. Do we choose to respond through love or fear? Fear can be hardwired into us, and often our reactions are fear based. It takes more diligence to respond through love and compassion.

The next time you feel you have made a mistake, remind yourself it is okay. In life our progress can often be one step forward, two steps back, especially when exploring new territory. It can be worthwhile before making an important decision to weigh up the pros and cons. Even writing them down on a piece of paper can help crystalize the options before taking action.

A mistake is only our perception of an event or action that we look back upon in hindsight. We can sometimes be more judgmental with ourselves than with others. No one likes to be judged, so why do we judge ourselves so harshly? After all it is through our mistakes that we learn, grow and evolve. If you have made a mistake, the best thing to do is to forgive yourself and intend that you will do better next time. If other people were involved know that they are human too and make mistakes as well. Forgive them and yourself for any past hurts so you will no longer carry the trauma and resentment.