Life Lessons

"A life spent making mistakes is more useful than a life spent doing nothing." ~ George Bernard Shaw

Some people say there are no mistakes in life, only lessons to be learned. When we get clear of the lesson, we grow. When we don’t learn the lesson, then it will repeat itself over and over again until we get it. It is one of those immutable laws: what we resist persists. Being ‘abundantly human’ isn’t bad; after all, it is what life is all about – learning, growing and playing. Giving our selves permission to do something differently, to approach something from a new perspective is not only healthy, but also necessary for continued growth. Until we learn the lesson, we will continue to do things in the same way we have always done. That does not make us wrong; we are right given the level of awareness we have at the time.

What lesson is presenting itself to you right now? What is it that you need to learn in order to move forward in your life or career? Where are you stuck? Is there something that keeps repeating itself in your life – like finding yourself in the same situation at work, or in the same types of relationships?

Life’s lessons are great gifts. They offer us the opportunity to be human and explore our humanness. Humans are not perfect – we are perfect only in our humanness. When we strive for perfection, everything becomes heavy; we place an unnecessary burden on ourselves (and others) that causes stress and steals us of time and energy. Perfection is rooted in fear and control. Eliminate the perfection trap. What do you gain from being that way? How does that behavior serve you? What need are you trying to fill in your life? What do you lose by the pursuit of perfection?

Shrinking and playing small to avoid life’s lessons does not serve you or the world. Examine your fear. What does it feel like? Where does it come from? What are you really afraid of? Learning the lesson means we can move forward in life to the next lesson. This is how we cultivate success, by being willing to experiment and eliminate the ways of doing it wrong.

Some lessons we cannot avoid, like the stages of life and the passing of the years. How we integrate our time on earth with our approach to living and our willingness to be open to receive the lessons presented to us, will determine how we create success in our life. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is the definition of insanity. And it keeps people stuck, making it impossible for them to achieve their goals for success. Our experiences shape who we are at this moment. Be willing to explore life’s lessons from different perspectives. Share your lessons with others. Listen to others’ stories as well. After all, you don’t have time to learn all of life’s lessons in your lifetime. When you share your lessons with others, you give them permission to be human as well.