August 25, 2010
Embrace your mistakes as feedback to stay on course for a happy life.
even when we are most enlightened.
But when we are in true spiritual darkness,
we do not even know that we have fallen.
I have read that the average commercial airline flight is off course about 80% of the time. It successfully lands at the right place because of frequent tiny corrections made by the pilot along the way. I think that successful and happy people are like that too- making constant tiny corrections in what they think and do to stay on course for a happy life.
Some people think of these small corrections as mistakes so they criticize or belittle themselves and others for making them. Others, like Thomas Merton, might see these corrections as a sign of enlightenment and worthy of praise and respect. After all, when we fail to make the small corrections, we get really off course and our airplane of life crashes far from its original destination.
Dale Carnegie, author of the famous book How to Win Friends and Influence People , advises us to avoid the steering wheel talk; that is the speech we give ourselves afterwards that critiques everything about our day. Instead he recommends that we review our successes and what went right. Ironically, focusing on our success makes it easier to see our mistakes as feedback- opportunities for small course corrections that keep us on track.
Marcus Buckingham, a Gallop Pollster and author of Now Discover Your Strengths, would agree. He observes that our society is so used to criticizing first, that we are losing the language we need to talk about strengths in a positive way. Yet, when we focus on strengths and manage around weaknesses instead of the other way around, our success rate soars.
Happy and enlightened folks make lots of mistakes and it is ok because they learn from them and correct their course.
Embrace your mistakes as feedback to stay on course for a happy life.
Affirmation
I am an enlightened person. I see my mistakes as opportunities to correct my course and maintain my happy life.
Journal or Meditation Question
Where have I let my criticism keep me from changing course easily to do the right thing? Do I criticize myself more or others? Where can I reframe a criticism into feedback to keep myself on course for a happy life?
The disaster in Pakistan is 10 times more serious than Katrina. Women and children are at the most risk.
Do Good. Be Good. Feel Good.
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