“With every mistake; we must surely be learning.” –Beatles
Making mistakes doesn’t mean we are less capable. Making mistakes happens to everyone and it’s part of life. Naturally life’s efforts also bring failures. Training is no different. From weight lifting, crossfit, or yoga you make mistakes and you learn from them. The benefit is that you make an attempt and then observe our reactions to the insight gained from the experience.
Learning how to NOT do something is just as important as learning how to do it correctly. Just think of the first time you lifted a barbell or tried a new yoga pose. You stumbled and might have messed up but you learned from that experience. Your growth happens when you try, fail and then learn from the fall. The next step is to apply it next time and do it better. Learning and failing gives you time to practice making decisions learning and applying feedback while holding ourselves accountable with compassion for the trying.
When you finally figure it out, that is now time to go onto the next challenge of the movement or the pose. Learning is an ongoing process that you need to keep yourself accountable for as well as find kindness towards yourself when you might find difficult times. Keep in mind that when you go outside your comfort zone, you are likely going to fail from time to time; and that is OK. The more we allow ourselves to experiment on the mat, the easier it becomes to take risks in our life off the mat. Eventually, the way we practice our yoga becomes the way you live our life.
Our own self-observations of mental and physical habits provide the learning. For instance, do you:
- Hold back, stay in your comfort zone and play it safe all the time?
- Get angry and upset at yourself when you make mistakes?
- Get ego fueled when you do achieve something more than others?
- Blame those around you if it doesn’t work out the way you expected?
- Stand around and watch everyone else try?
- Live with regret for not attempting to stretch toward your greatest intentions?
“All my mistakes have become masterpieces.” – Tietur
5 Lessons We Can Learn from our Mistakes:
- Lessen our fear addiction.
- Live with fewer regrets.
- Find solutions more quickly.
- Be less critical and judgmental of ourselves.
- Learn not to give up at the first sign of discomfort or failure.
It sure sounds like the key to success is to fail. That might mean fail a lot before things become easy then try something that challenges you just to fail again !!! Learning is a beautiful failing experience !