Learning From Mistakes

The difference between a “good mistake” and a “bad mistake” is how you respond to them. It helps to consider what might be fixable and what we cannot change.

There are strategies that can help us learn from our mistakes including mindful awareness, self -compassion, and self-exploration which leads to greater balance in our lives.

Whether we take the wrong path, or say the wrong words, it’s sometimes difficult to get the old stories out of our heads that lead us astray. We wish we could have a do over.

Of course, many situations do not allow a do over. As human beings, we can learn to live with the “what ifs,” wondering how things might have been different if we had made another choice. There’s always going to be fill-in-the-blank moments of “I wish I hadn’t ——-”

Self-inquiry can offer to explore how we experience this “what if” discomfort and how we might enable our past missteps to illuminate our lives in ways that light our days forward, rather than staying stuck in the dark hallway of the “what ifs.”

Good mistakes teach us valuable lessons and bad mistakes as the ones we hide from in shame and regret. The bad ones are the ones we can repent of and ask God to forgive us and move on from. They both inspire greater awareness, learning, and inner liberation -a way forward that shifts change in our lives.

I think as long as we strive to be a better version of ourselves and live authentically, stay true to our values, and do what brings a sense of purpose, happiness, and meaning to our lives we are on the right track.

Ephesians 4: 22-24 tells us,

“Put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lists of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.”

With this verse we can be encouraged to shed our old ways and strive to live a life that reflects God’s character, essentially becoming a better version of ourselves through spiritual growth and transformation.