Your best teacher is your last mistake
If we make one mistake and do not correct it, we are already
making the second.
Mistakes are part of life, we all make mistakes.
The question is, how do we deal with it, what do we do when we
realize the mistake?
Often we notice the mistake the moment we make it.
But what can we do, should we "fix it" even at the risk of
"losing face"? Or look aside in shame and "forget about it"?
Buddha said: There are only two mistakes one can make on the path
to truth - Not going all the way, or not starting it!
So, according to the historical great man, we should walk the
path of reality, clearing the oversight. My mother always says,
"Son, what is true you may say".
So a Buddhist should have the human greatness to admit his
shortcomings, to stand by his actions, and to try to correct them
if possible. Because according to Buddha, soft can be stronger
than hard.
Shame is a natural feeling, such as when we have done something
wrong, we feel ashamed. But isn't it clearly better for us if we
overcome this brief moment of insecurity, muster the inner virtue
and "fix" the mistake right now?
Yes, it is!
Because an oversight can quickly turn into a bigger lie, the
untruth then gives rise to suffering, for us and for those around
us, the popular saying goes: "a mosquito gives rise to an
elephant".
Example: I do not tell my wife that a colleague "adores" me in
the office. When she happens to see the co-worker with me on the
street, she thinks I am having an affair with her. Because I did
not clear up the mistake at the beginning, a real problem arises,
we all know such situations, often it goes well, but sometimes
"the shot backfires".
Learning from mistakes and mishaps brings us further, we also
grow from the mistakes we make. But only if we stand by these
"weak points", if we see them as part of our life, if we start to
see our mistakes as positive as our strengths, because where
there are no mountains, there are no valleys.
So, the next mistake you make, you should celebrate it, really
celebrate it, enjoy it, because it is a part of your self, your
being, your personality. Just like the solution to the problem,
you should also "celebrate" it and "experience" it in its
entirety.
In a great book I read: "For he who is free from error, let him
cast the first stone".
When the first missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible
and we had the land. They asked us to pray. And we closed our
eyes. When we opened them again, the situation was reversed: we
had the Bible and they had the land.
- Desmond Mpilo Tutu - South African clergyman - born 1931
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