Mistakes

Human beings are given to making mistakes. It is simply part of being alive. Mistakes teach us about ourselves; what we like and what we don't, what we are capable of, and what we must never do again.  The reality is that we spend a great deal of time obsessing about what went wrong and feeling badly about whatever we did.  The more we think about the mistake, the bigger it becomes.  Soon we are dealing with a situation which has global consequences and well may threaten the future of the generations which follow us.  It sounds silly doesn't it?  But we all do it.  We blow mistakes out of proportion.  Granted, some are magnificent and grand, but for the most part they are minor. I as move deeper into my fifties I am starting to gain some perspective about the daily mistakes of my life.  I have learned that the end world will not arrive because I forgot to return a phone call, or
decided to be frank when everyone would have benefited by my silence. The brooding about mistakes is  taking up less time that it did in the past.

I am also learning to give more attention and acknowledgement to the small steps I take towards health and joy.  Wallowing in the joy of having done something to move forward is much better way to spend my allotted obsessing time.  If I pay attention, there are increasing moments when I make choices that are in my best interest.  When  I pass up the opportunity for a fast food hamburger and opt to eat my tuna sandwich, that is a choice worth celebrating.  When I make sure the car gets an oil change on time that is a reason to be pleased with myself. Those small choices feed each other and soon the focus of my life has changed from how horrible and incapable I am to how wise and responsible I am, and that is a much nicer village in which to live.

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change"
                  Wayne Dyer

( Christine, thanks for reminding me about this quote.)