Mistake
"The journey towards enlightenment is a path filled with wrong turns"
Introduction
Defining A Mistake
A mistake is defined here as doing something wrong, usually by accident.
There are many situations in life where we can make mistakes: For instance, in a classroom, at work, in a job interview, when we converse with people, and so forth.
In life, we are bound to make mistakes at one time or another. Making mistakes is really a part of life; it's how we learn. There is no baby that is born to walk perfectly without first making a mistake.
So, unfortunately, all of us will end up making mistakes, maybe today, tomorrow, or someday; some of which will be small mistakes, and some, quite costly ones!
This article will look at the ways in which we can reduce the chances of making mistakes, and most importantly, how to address the suffering state of mind when one ends up committing a mistake.
Mistakes In Depth
To understand the things we can do in life to minimize mistakes, let us explore some factors that can drive one to make mistakes.
The first factor is quite obvious. It's simply a lack of knowledge. When we engage in a task that we are not well versed in, we will be more prone to making mistakes. The solution? Just learn more about what you are doing and learn from your mistakes. Practice makes perfect!
The second factor is the quality of mind we carry every day. When we think and do things from a mind that is chaotic, i.e. when we are always angry, clouded with wandering thoughts, fatigued from excessive use, then the chances of making mistakes will increase greatly.
Realize that the more we are able to live in the Present Moment, the less likely we will make mistakes throughout the day. So, it's important to learn how to Still the mind so that we can comfortably focus on the task in front of us. If the mind is wandering, thinking about something else, the chances of mistakes will increase.
Thus by having a more grounded mind, it will help us to make better and clearer decisions in life, and the practice of meditation and yoga can help one greatly to achieve such grounding. There are meditation courses you can take on the courses page to help you bring clarity into your mind.
These practices, yoga and meditation, can help you to strengthen the mind, allowing you to remain more centred and still when faced with the up and downs in life.
The Negativity Experienced When Making Mistakes
Let us look at the Negative Reactions we can experience when we make mistakes in life. This is the focus of the article—To address the suffering states of the mind.
Some of us can forgive ourselves when we make mistakes. But there will be those who will remain highly critical, unable to forgive oneself for making even the simplest mistakes.
When we hold high expectations of ourselves and others to not make mistakes in life, it can take a long time, weeks and sometimes even months, until the unpleasant and judgemental feelings can be released.
It can be extremely painful to live in such a self-critical way.
So let us look at the ways to address the states of Self-Judgement, and we begin the journey by understanding what a mistake really is to the mind.
To the mind, a mistake is a subjective opinion of what is right and wrong. For instance, let us use an example where a colleague, out of honesty, tells his boss that his management skills are not good. From one perspective, one may think that it's a mistake for the employee to have said something disrespectful to the boss, whilst from another perspective, someone else may think that it's correct to give feedback to the boss.
Thus what a mistake really is will always come down to the ideas of right and wrong that we carry. The importance of transforming the mind thus is not so much in not ever making a mistake, but rather to develop unconditional acceptance towards ourselves and each other when a mistake is made. So that even if a mistake was really made, one's state of happiness and unconditional love is not affected.
Path Of Creator
Mistakes In Relation To The Path Of Creator
The journey begins first with the understanding that the ideas of right and wrong can be highly subjective and that everyone will always have their own opinions of what is right and wrong.
But when we become attached to the ideas of right and wrong then we will experience the suffering states of the mind.
From a psychological point of view, our fears of making mistakes could have surfaced during our childhood when the ideas of right and wrong were whipped into us through the form of punishments from our parents, or later by the teachers at school, our friends, our loved ones, and so forth.
But from a spiritual perspective, it's simply a learning that we have carried into this life. The outer experiences we went through in life simply brought it out into light.
The journey of Self-Transformation will begin and progress with Self-Knowing, a journey where we discover the reasons for why we have become so attached to these ideas that only bring suffering into our life. The more we know, the more the mind will transform. This is natural. How would someone not let go of their beliefs when they realize how much suffering they bring?
On the journey of Self-Transformation, the analytical mind can often stand in the way of Self-Transformation. That is why the practice of meditation can be helpful as it will put the thinking mind aside so that one can realize that there really is only two paths in life—to become attached to being right all the time and be unhappy, or to be happy by letting one's attachment go.
The destination is towards a peaceful state of mind, forgiving oneself and all those who make mistakes in life.
Let us look at some Negative Ideas that can promote the fear of making a mistake.
At The Idea Level
One may discover the following ideas in their journey towards self-discovery.
"It is not ok to make a mistake"
When the mind becomes attached to such a declaration, The mind will tend to hold great fears in making a mistake. When one is extremely fearful of making a mistake one will may not even take any action at all in life that involve “risks.”
The transition towards the positive declaration - "It is ok to be make a mistake" begins when one realizes that the fear of making mistakes is there because of a lack of trust and support one has towards oneself.
When one has a lack of love inwards one will often subconsciously try to fill it through seeking love outwards, and this can increase the fear of not being accepted by others if one makes a mistake.
The wisdom here is to realize that we can only make choices based on what we know in the moment—we can never predict the future and predict accurately the results of our doings.
Thus no matter what we do in life, we are bound to make mistakes, especially if we are around who are more knowledgeable than us, people who can often point us to better ways of doing the same task.
Thus the only thing we can really do in life is to simply do our best in the moment and learn to accept whatever happens.
The journey of becoming perfect thus is to learn to accept that one is already perfect—To see the perfection in one's imperfections—that is the journey of Self-Acceptance.
Know and Transform The Self!
Reading articles helps with understanding, but to transform the mind, one realizes the truth from experience.
For such an enlightening journey, the Self-Transformation Course has everything you will ever need!
