Admit Your Mistakes, Learn From Them And Move On

Do we not all make mistakes? Does it matter? Do we learn from them? Will we repeat them until we do?

What do we mean? When we do something we did not want to. When we did the wrong thing. When we did the right thing but at the wrong time.

And what does this show - that we are human, that is all. We are not perfect, not meant to be, so why should we strive for it. Not being infallible does not mean that we cannot and should not be doing our best, giving our all to each and every situation - within our capabilities, our talents, our efforts and the path we are leading.

Only we can really say that we are doing our best, that we are not coasting along at this moment. But coasting is fine, at times. Other times maximum effort is required. Discerning the two is one of the challenges of the life we lead.

I never make any errors, you might say. Then you are fortunate indeed, or do very little - which might be an error in itself.

That was a mere oversight on my part. That will definitely not happen again - how often have we heard that?

That was a slip of the tongue. I did not mean that - though you were thinking it, yes?

I did slip up there but it was not my fault. They did not tell me enough. It is their fault. The blame game.

That was a misunderstanding. A miscommunication if you will. I thought one thing, but you another. Easily happens. But how do we handle it, and how well?

I'm sorry I boobed there. Ah, a recognition of something not done satisfactorily and acknowledged. That may be something we own up to regularly, or it might be a first.

Sorry, I dropped a right clanger there. I was not thinking, I apologize. Things got out of hand, or I let them get out of hand. I should not have done that.

Or we may not think that we have done anything wrong. These things happen and others just have to accept them. Which do you think would be the more acceptable response?

That was not meant to happen, I miscalculated there. I did not mean that. That did not turn out as I had hoped. Sound familiar?

Oh boy, that was an error of judgment on my part. Well, I nearly got it right but failed at the last step, the last hurdle. Perhaps I did not have all the facts, or I made a quick (or not so quick) assumption and ...

One false move and my whole 'pack of cards' has fallen over. Being susceptible to chance or luck may show a lack of forethought or prior planning necessary for the task at hand.

Sorry but that was my fault. I did that. Are we man or woman enough to own up for our lapses or errors, or do we try to sweep them under the carpet, or, perhaps worse, try to push the blame on others? What stance is most respected, do you think?

I misread the situation. I thought you wanted me to do that, but in fact you did not. I'm sorry I did not understand how you felt about it. I'll be more careful in future.

You said that but I misconstrued. I thought I knew you better. I thought I understood how you thought better than that.

My, that confused me. I was mistaken. I thought you were going to do X, but you ended up doing Y. We need to talk about that.

How could I have taken that for granted? That was shallow of me. It won't happen again.

You did mix that up, didn't you. But no matter, no harm done.

I misinterpreted how you felt about me. I thought we were close. I thought you genuinely cared for me. And I see you do, but not in an intimate way. I'm sorry I was not trying to take advantage of you.

So many different types of mistakes and explanations . . .

What is in mistakes, why do they occur? Because we are human? To learn and grow? To make us think? To make life interesting? For the sheer hell of it?

Are mistakes just something we need to get used to in life or can we try our hardest to minimize them. If we can just learn from our mistakes where could we be?