The Joy of Failure: Continual Evolution & Growth

Yesterday I faced some intensely challenging circumstances.  A situation I thought I had designed well at the outset, didn't have the expected successful results I had hoped for.

I had tried my best.
I had used the knowledge and wisdom I had at the time.
I had tried to get ahead of things that might go wrong.

Yet, I still failed.
It wasn't for lack of effort or focus.
Things didn't go as planned.

As I sat with the results of my efforts, an overwhelming sense of grief flooded through my body.  A wave of tears flowed out of my eyes.  (Hey--I am a Scorpio and those who know me well understand that I feel everything deeply in my heart.)

After the initial shock and emotion (which took me hours to process with my closest friends), my body relaxed and my mind opened.

I realized that I had done my best.  There was no way I could have know all the intricacies of what would be encountered in the situation.  And, I realized that each of these situations where I go into the unknown is an experiment.

It takes boldness and courage to venture into unknown territory.  I am willing to take risks, to be cutting edge and to push the boundaries on my potential.  I want to learn and grow and become a better, more evolved version of myself.

I've dedicated my life to helping others reach their full potential and I feel an inner desire to do that myself.

So, what does that mean?  It means that I may fail sometimes in this grand experiment of life.  But, the key is to not take failures in a deeply personal way.  Failing at something doesn't have to mean feeling guilt and shame about who we are.

We can instead choose to view this as a path of personal evolution.

When something doesn't go as we had hoped, we can simply start asking questions -- similar to how a scientist would approach an experiment:

What went right?  What worked?
What didn't work?
Why didn't it work?
How can I design the situation better next time so that I get a different set of results?

For those of us committed to being our best selves, we are constantly fine tuning.  We can use a constant state of non-judgmental awareness to find new opportunities to improve upon our lives.  We can take the wisdom of "failures" and then design new scenarios for greater success!

So, I wake up this morning feeling the physical exhaustion of a deeply emotional yesterday.  But, I also now have a greater wisdom and a more profound awareness of new choices that can be made as I move forward.

I'm thankful for the "failure".  It's made me better, more aware, wiser and it has affirmed to me that I am a courageous being willing to step out and try new things.  My heart is in the right place and I am certain that God and the 1,000s of angels that surround me are guiding me forward into the unknown--the Divine is helping me move forward on Life's journey because I pray and ask for help constantly.

Below is my daily Food For Thought, wrote in honor of the situation.  I know we are all trying new things and not always getting the best results...so, I hope you feel encouraged by my vulnerability.

Let's just keep learning and growing together.

With all my love,
Patricia Omoqui, The Thought Dr.
www.patriciaomoqui.com

Affirm:   I am a work in progress. I learn from every situation.

How have you been interpreting "failures"?

__________  

In situations where things don't get as planned, 

people often call the result a "failure."

And, too often, failure is taken in a deeply personal way--

the judgment becomes: "something must be wrong with me because of how this turned out."

Guilt or shame is internalized and then hinders us from continuing to boldly move forward.

What if we transformed our view of "failures"?

Life is a Grand Experiment!

Life is an opportunity for constant growth and evolution.

None of us come in perfect.

We are each works in progress.

Try thinking like a scientist.

A scientist observes the dynamics of experiments.

A journal is kept of --

What went right in this experiment that I'd want to do again?

What didn't go so well that I need to change or improve upon to get better results?

Courage is shown when we try something new and go into unknown territories.

To be a cutting edge human means to experiment with new situations.

Maybe we don't need to take the "results" of our experiments personally or too seriously.

Instead, 

keep improving!

Keep evolving!

Keep joyfully expanding into a better and better version of yourself!

Encourage others to do the same!

We are each remarkable works in progress, here on the planet 

to learn and grow.