Mistakes – Life Lessons?

 

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Mistakes – Life Lessons?

It is said that failures are the stepping stones to success – when we say this, what we really mean is that it is okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are nothing but life lessons that we need to learn from, in fact one learns even faster! A great scientist, Buckminister Fuller had once said at a conference, “Forget about all the ‘Do this. Don’t do that’ business. Commit as many mistakes as possible, as soon as possible. You will become great.”

If one sits and analyses that statement, one finds that it is true! Every failure is a stepping stone. We just have to ensure that it is not the same stepping stone, don’t repeat mistakes, learn form them and move on. Every step should be on a new stone.

The problem with many people is that they make the same mistake over and over again, they do not learn. The impact of such mistakes keeps worsening, till the lesson is finally learnt. By that time such people pay a heavy price – and in the spiritual sphere this is a very high price to pay. This is because one takes a long time to near the peak, and one small mistake means you fall down and start all over again. Experience is the best teacher.

If one has to grow spiritually then it is important to primarily identify one’s own defects. It is very easy to point out other people’s shortcomings, but far more difficult to see oneself just as one is. To do this one has to become introversive – and identify one’s negative traits which could be anger, greed, laziness, insecurity, lust, jealousy and so on. Such personality defects need to be identified and removed as they make us less efficient, they are a constant source of stress and misery in ours and others’ lives. They consume a lot of our energy, leaving us tired and miserable.

Such personality defects erupt as a reaction to situations, thus robbing us of experiencing any happiness (let alone, bliss) that our spiritual practice has the potential to give us. Negative energies from the subtle dimension find it easy to gain entry into a person with many personality defects. They accentuate the reactions which a person may be having, thus negatively impacting the person and others. For example, if we have the personality defect of anger and we hurt others by the way we speak, we incur sin. 

At a spiritual level, the energy generated through the spiritual practice is used in nullifying the sin. Consequently, they diminish one’s ability to persevere on the spiritual path. Regardless of the spiritual path one follows, if one has many personality defects, spiritual progress is difficult if not impossible.

It is best to learn from one’s mistakes, turn introversive and identify and set right one’s personality defects if one desires to progress spiritually. Turn inwards, bloom within and find the universal peace that all are seeking – knowingly, unknowingly.