Mistakes

 The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything      Theodore Roosevelt

                                            

I do believe that saying is true.  To add to that.  The more you do and the more you try to do outside of your expertise or comfort the more likely you are to make a mistake.  I believe most mistakes come from rushing, not paying attention or not understanding what it is you are doing or the intention behind what you are doing.

My mom had a saying to counter act fear of making a mistake, " Do something, even if it's wrong."  That is a pretty good motto when you think about it.  In other words-Don't just stand there-take action.

The trick with mistakes is to not beat yourself up.  I think that I spent most of my twenties and thirties beating myself up for actual or perceived mistakes.  When I think about it, I get a chill.  Wasted hours, unnecessary stress, making up stories both to shame and defend myself.  So much of that came from a fragile ego and from no sense of self at all.   That was a bad time period for me and one I don't think I really got out of until I was into my forties, it peaked in my mid-thirties and gradually lessened.  I got released from that trap through a few things: about 500,000 dollars' worth of self-help books, talking with my friend who was going through much of the same, making mistakes and living through them and finally having enough hard hits that I had to and learned to release much of my ego.  If I could know then what I know now I think life could have been so much more fun and so much easier. 

Mistakes still are not easy for me.  As a recovering perfectionist they are still difficult.  I now am ego resistant and resilience strong both of which are cultivated states that grow over time.  

Bottom line: Take some risks, make some mistakes-tell your ego to take a hike and practice resilience and letting go.   Making mistakes gets easier.  Life gets easier.

No More Trying

 "No more trying. Just do it. Choose it. Keep loving yourself until you really feel it deep in your heart."  Crystal Starr Weaver

In the-just do it-category I would like to relate a small epiphany I had a few years ago during a trip to Sedona.  Two friends and I signed up to walk the Medicine Wheel with Crystal Starr Weaver.  I know the name would make you wonder about legitimacy, but she was a wonderfully authentic and deeply spiritual person. I found walking the Medicine Wheel with her to be one of the most profound experiences of my life.  That experience was the beginning of this journey. After a good smudging she led us to the parking lot sized Medicine Wheel, the first question was, "how much do you love yourself on a scale of one to ten?"  Yikes, I started silently crying and with tears running down my face said a four.  She said that you must love yourself as a ten. We are only capable of loving others as much as we love ourselves.  

That was an earth mover.  My children are the light of my world, and I was only loving them at a four?  That opened up a can of worms that has yet to have a lid.  When I said I would try to love myself at a ten, Crystal Staff Weaver said, "No more trying. Just do it. Choose it. Keep loving yourself until you really feel it deep in your heart."  

I am, at last, at a point where I am ready to live those words and that is where this pilgramage of Grit and Grace has begun, Do I love myself at a ten level right now?  No, but I'm up to about an 8 so I've doubled it since my epiphany moment.  That is what this pilgrimage is about, loving myself at a ten so I can love others at a ten.