We all make mistakes. We all lie to ourselves all the time. We are not perfect, so they say. Don’t be too hard on yourself. We all made mistakes along the way. It is by seeking and blundering we learn, so said Johann Wolfgang von Geothe.
We learn from reflecting on our experience. It is through by recognizing our errors, we improve our life. Remember not only you learn from your own mistakes, others can learn your painful or shameful past too.
I have always remember this rather witty and meaningful quote by Eleanor Roosevelt: “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”
There was a study conducted at Bristol University where they brain imaging to look at how people and animals learn from failure and success. The findings shows that we learned more from others’ mistakes.
As Rick Warren author-pastor of “The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?“, says: “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”
We all live an eventful life and that is how it shapes our life accordingly. Not every mistake is foolish or silly. They are part of dues one pays for a full life. My favorite writer James Joyce put it so appropriately: “A man’s mistakes are his portal of discovery“.