The Best Teachers Are Your Own Mistakes

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What is a mistake?

Generally, a mistake is a decision or an action that we come to regret. We all make them from time to time. It is only human. However, it is what we do with those mistakes that will determine and define us as human beings based on what we accomplish through them.

The greatest gift for human beings are mistakes.

It is a given driving force to seek to develop and grow, to evolve and to connect deeper with yourself. Strengthening, growing and gaining the possibility for unlimited inner self-development. If of course, you allow yourself to admit your own mistake.

You can only learn from a mistake after you admit you’ve made it. Seen from a certain level, there is no such thing as a mistake. Every mistake is a lesson.

Admitting our own mistakes, however, can be very difficult. How many people blame their own mistakes on other people? Or even on the universe? Far too many. It is our own pride that we fear to bruise, our fragile ego that can’t handle the idea.

But admitting your own mistake does not hurt your pride. It builds courage, it is a greater form of self-development. Only by admitting your own mistake to yourself, you open a new door to further self-knowledge.

Wisdom is the knowledge you can gain from making mistakes.

Many people repeat the same pattern of a certain mistake a few times over before they open up their eyes to it. Unfortunately, there are others who are too stubborn to ever admit their own mistake.

These people stop themselves from further development. It is better to face your own mistakes instead of trying to escape from them. They will never be mended that way.

“In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.” - Tom Bodett

Mistakes usually evoke a feeling of failure.

They are inseparable in our mind. A test you failed because you did not prepare well enough for it could make you feel as not being good enough, not smart enough, or in other words – a failure. A relationship or marriage ending in a break-up or a divorce will be seen as a failure. You were not good enough to resolve the underlying problems and mistakes you made.

However, it is exactly those mistakes and failures that will lead us to personal lessons.

We actually gain the opportunity to turn them into a learning experience, gaining knowledge about ourselves as well as figuring out what went wrong and how to fix it next time around.

If we have gained something – in this case – knowledge, how can it be deemed as a failure?

Don’t be overthrown by the feelings of failure and guilt. They can become so powerful that we don’t have the courage to try again.

This is why many people give up on their goals: they’re not prepared for the mistakes and failures they’ll face on their way to what they want.

You cannot be successful without making a mistake and learning to cope with them.

It is exactly those mistakes that will help you progress to future success and personal growth. So don’t dwell on mistakes or failures in your life, they are a lesson from life to help you broaden your own personal knowledge. It is in your own power to turn those into life lessons.

There is simply no such thing as a mistake or a failure. Once you can move past those feelings of dread and disappointment you can allow yourself to unlock an unlimited self-development potential. As human beings we are born with this capability to learn until we die. If you can stop yourself from perceiving mistakes and failures one-dimensionally, but instead see them as valuable lessons, you gain the capacity of a very wise person.