mistakes are inevitable. no one is perfect.

you’ll screw up friendships. a long-term, loving relationship will suddenly crumble because of a simple misunderstanding.

trust takes a lifetime to build, but seconds to lose.

but you’re not alone. i screw up too. a lot. often.

and so will your friend, your partner, a co-worker, or the stranger on the street that you encounter for a mere moment but who tattoos upon your soul an indelible memory of a terrible, selfish and cruel human being.

mistakes are inevitable — but they’re just fine:

what matters is how you make them.

making mistakes for the wrong reasons or causes — when your actions, words, or decisions are derived from a place of ego, ignorance, anger, jealousy, hatred, greed or some ugly source within that makes you feel like “I’m not myself” — will cripple your heart and spur long, painful bouts of attempting to rectify the wrongdoing.

you’ll feel a prisoner to the past. chained by haunting memories. crushed with regret.

you’ll feel burdened from re-living, time and time again, the evil twin of yourself that hurt the ones you loved and screwed up in a seemingly irrevocable way.

but mistakes from naivete, inexperience or simple oversight are forgivable. passable. you need to make ’em to make fewer down the line.

  • you will tell a white lie to try to protect someone you care for
  • you will make grammatical errors and other mistakes in your book
  • a simple stroke of the paintbrush sticks out like an ugly, sore thumb, even though few others feel the same way

but when you make a mistake from a place of goodness — not a place of “I’m right, you’re wrong,” but originating from a place of love and caring, good will and good intentions, mistakes are hardly life-long impasses.

there is little burden, only fleeting regret.

few causes for tears and heartbreak, only a frown and a “sorry.”

a lesson learned. new growth. needed experience.

mistakes are inevitable. but when you live, speak and act from a place within your heart, your soul, your purest source… there is never very much to regret, in spite of the mistakes you make.

make your mistakes from living with dedication to compassion. love. giving. selflessness. hope. inspiration. sharing. caring.

to live from within is to rely upon the truth of your Being as source for your words, movements and decisions — dawning from fertile grounds of love, understanding, and a want of simple happiness.

deny the anger. the ego. your “rightness” and their “wrongness.”

breathe. be.

to lead without followers is to stand for what your heart tells you is right — not because the world agrees, not because “I’m right and they’re all wrong,” but because your heart strings feel beckoned by angels to do the bidding of those who cannot.

strive to flourish in your life as the most *humane* human being, who simply radiates goodness . . . without a whisper.

live your life. make your mistakes.

make them for the right reasons, and there will be little to ever regret.

the question for you becomes… what are YOUR “right” reasons?

Flickr photo credit: elycefeliz