Mistakes

I want to talk about mistakes this week. And not just the simple I made a misstep on my kata or forgetting to take the trash out kind. I talking about the kind of mistakes where ourselves and others are genuinely disappointed in what we did, or if we happened to get away with our lapse in judgment how they would feel if someone ever found out.

Character building is a long road and it is laden with these kinds of disappointments or lapses. We are after all Human. But it is what you do and how you learn from making horrible decisions that allow you to change your charachter over all. (And I am going to take a sec and talk to the men) For us it usually takes a metaphorical punch in the face to alter our paths. A divorce or losing our job or even a fishing buddy, but we need a different form of motivation to realize our errors. Ok I am back. So while we experience shame, We can also make it a point to practice our virtue. Keeping in mind the person that we strive to be and the people we want to continue to impress.

I have made many mistakes over my lifetime as I am sure you have too. And we can either let our mistakes define us or we can use them as valuable teaching tools. Because having a complete understanding of what not to do or how to act is very beneficial in my opinion. In fact when I really look back on it, most of the people that were close to me in the early part of my life were examples of how to not behave. Recognizing that mistake well, that just simply helped me to grow. There are some of us who feel growth is pain and that is very real.

Having the strength of character to look inward and say "man I really effed up there", can be painful. Recognizing toxic friends? There are people in our lives who are drags, and it can be hard to admit to ourselves that they aren't inline with our goals our aspirations. It took me a long time to ditch the drags on my life. And it get harder the longer you keep them tied to you. Trust me. But these errors these lapses can be fixed. We can recognize true friends and role models, We can amend mistakes by learning from them and doing the right thing from then on after.

Mostly what I want to say is that I recognize you are not perfect but the strive to be better is within us if we only can have the strength to face the pain of growth and thrive!