by Linda-Ann Stewart

Have you ever made a choice that you regretted? I have. I spent years berating myself for getting involved with a disastrous relationship. Even though I learned valuable lessons from the experience, I continued to consider my original choice a mistake.

Only years later was I able to take some of the advice I give to my clients, “There are no mistakes, just learning experiences.” Many people come to me with perfectionist expectations of themselves. If they actually make a mistake, such as choosing a path that didn’t turn out the way they wanted, they continue to criticize themselves for the rest of their lives. Something as simple as saying the wrong thing turns into a huge mountain of regret.

It’s all About Learning

I remind them that it’s simply a choice that they made at the time, with the information they had available. We’re here to experience, and to learn what works and what doesn’t. Edison experimented with over a hundred filaments before he discovered the one that would work in the light bulb. A baseball player is considered to be the best of the league if he hits the ball one-third of the time. Can we expect more of ourselves than that? Life is an experiment.

A mistake is simply that, a “mis-take.” We tried something and it didn’t work as we had expected. It’s like the repetitive takes when shooting a scene for a movie. Hopefully, we learn from our experience and do better the next time. Entrepreneurs, on average, fail three times before they are successful. Each time, they find something new that helps them succeed a little bit more the next time.

Continuing to berate yourself over a difficult choice is a waste of spiritual energy. God doesn’t care that you’ve made a boo-boo. The Universe knows that you’ll get it eventually. Learn and move on. I am finally coming to the place where I can forgive myself for getting involved in that devastating relationship, and you should also be willing to forgive yourself for your mis-takes.

Affirmation:

Since God forgives me for my errors, I now forgive myself for any so-called mistakes that I’ve made. I recognize they were just learning experiences, and I now let go of any self-criticism and move on. Anything that I might need to learn from the experience I now integrate into every level of mind. It now becomes simply a resource and a lesson learned.