Failure and making mistakes is often accompanied with fear: a fear of change, a fear
of trying, a fear of what other’s may think, a fear of success or a fear of something
new. Simply put, one of the greatest mistakes we can make in life is to be fearful that we may just make a mistake! At times it may not be the fear of failures or mistakes
holding us back, but the responses of others, especially those that we care about, that make us hesitant to try or to experiment with something in the first place. Instead, we would be wise to remember that those who are the quickest to judge and ridicule are those who live within their own comfort zone, preferring we stay within ours insofar we do not challenge any conformity. Those of us who fear failure are those of us who limit our endeavours, experiences, thinking and possibilities.
Albert Einstein once said “A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything
new”. It is true to say that nothing creative or innovative can happen without an
element of failure. However, this also applies to making changes to any aspect of our
life, our living experiences: be that our relationships, our careers, our living
environment and even the way we think, how we understand and connect to the world and the infinite universe around us.

Handle on Failure
Many of us struggle to recover from failure as we can lack the coping skills required
to navigate the emotions and reactions it can generate. When we understand our
failures, why it happened, how we are responding to it and how we could best handle
it, we begin a learning process that will lead to personal and soul growth. If we
integrate all of this into knowledge we will enable ourselves to be better equipped to
deal with failure when we encounter it once more. Failure and not achieving our
desired result will happen. It is the process of what we do during and after that is
most important. It is our reaction, or better yet, our response to the lack of wanted
success that will shape our experience as a whole. We have to move out of our ego,
ensuring our pride is out of the way in order to get to the grass roots of the learning
experience. As with anything in our life, it is our attitude and response to our
perceived failure that will define it. In handling failure this way we ensure our
failures are only experiences not final destinations and in doing so, we ensure that
they form an intelligent refinement process because it is based our lived experiences.

The Blame Game
Part of facing failure with courage is choosing not to allocate blame to anyone or
anything. When we consider our failing as someone else’s fault, that we didn’t meet
our desired outcome because the equipment failed, or because the questions were too
hard, or whatever reason we decide, we simply hold ourselves back; from learning,
from refining, from moving on and ultimately, from growing from whatever the
experience is. Blame will breed resentment and leaves us with the potential of
adopting a victim mentality. Blame renders us powerless, every time. It is ineffectual
in creating room to move or negotiate in situations. Blame encourages us to develop
poor problem solving skills, finding little pleasure in life and to have poor insight. We
can consider the blame game to be cultivating an attitude which will ensure we will
neglect to reach our true potential and lack of soul growth. Alternatively, if we reflect
on what happened and how we can potentially reshape the experience for the next
time, we give ourselves an opportunity for growth, refinement and development.
Blame keeps us small but acceptance creates room for growth.

Failure is Part of the Process
Let us endeavour to see failure as a delay in our plans and goals we have set for
ourselves – not as defeat. It is only defeat if we give up and walk away. It is better to
think of failure as a detour; as an uninvited opportunity to take a look at what we are
doing, to reconsider why we are doing it and how we are going about achieving it.
Failure is an opportunity for us to reassess what is important to us. We must
understand that failure is not the opposite of our desired result but simply part of the process in which we achieve it. Failure is, and always should be a refinement process.
It is about trying, reflection, refinement, progress and at times repeat! It is always an
opportunity to improve ourselves. Our mistakes can create a mirror through which we can take a good look at ourselves, evaluating if what resulted in failure is still in
alignment with what our soul requires at the present time. When we see failure this
way, the incurred failure becomes an opportunity to change direction onto a more
suitable pathway if our needs have changed. Failure creates opportunity to reconsider if our original plans and goals set are still aligned with our morals, values and aspirations. Perhaps the failure has shown us something that we didn’t see when we were focussed on our original desired outcome. All too often, we see failure as a negative event. With a shift of perception, it can be an opportunity for us to create a much needed change. Many of us talk often of signs and the universe delivering messages in many ways. Yet, all too often we choose these signs and universal messages are only the easy to digest ones, the one’s that only work in our favour.
Failure, however, can be a sign too. Yet, in these moments, we chose to forget that in
the Spirit World, the universe and in nature itself, there is no good and bad. Life and
it’s events are not personal, they just are. We humans are the only things who make
experiences, events, happenings and people either good and bad. If we can shift
ourselves to be in a place where things are just as they are, as an experience for us to have, everything takes on a different perspective. This mindset shift takes consistent work and considerable effort in the beginning, but in doing so, we make continual progress from one experience to another in the nature of personal development and the growth of our soul, as well as exploring our full potential.

No Errorless Learning
It is good to remember that there is no such thing as errorless learning: these errors
can be upsetting and unsettling but ultimately they are all an opportunity for growth
in life and soul work. If only we would stop measuring success on what we measure
on the outside material world! All too often we box ourselves into the confines of
what works for someone else or what they consider to be the best practise of
whatever we are doing. Ultimately though, working through this life, with all it’s
trials and tribulations is an experience. In order for us to achieve the best potential
from that experience, especially when it does not go to our planning, is to accept it
for what it is, learn from it and refine it in readiness for next time. Failure has an
ability to to shape ourselves in the most positive of ways. It builds resilience, strength of character, humbleness and honesty. Failure brings a refinement and evolvement process which naturally develops an appreciation of all things – only if we allow it.

After all, failure is in our nature.

With Love,

Helen