Do you know anybody who has not failed?
Do you feel like a failure?…
I don’t.
In fact, contrary to what you might have been taught as a child, failing does not mean that there is anything wrong with you. Actually, everyone has a major setback once in a while. Indeed, the more you interact with life, the more failure you will experience.
The correct attitude to failure is that it can be a great opportunity to learn your own limitations and boundaries. If you heed the message, it can give you the priceless chance to learn how to think “outside the box”.
Society tends to teach us that to accept failure means that we ARE failures. People who go down that path believe that they are not worthy of encouragement or any sort of positive nurturing. They get totally overwhelmed by the powerful emotional energies that flow through them as a result of feeling worthless. These feelings of low self-worth occur as a direct result of not succeeding at something that they tried very hard at.
The truth is rather different. Success is something that has to be personally defined. You make the rules about what “success” means to you. Nobody else should do it for you. If not, you will soon discover that you are being restricted by the limited expectations and interpretations that other people heap upon your shoulders. However, that is an extremely heavy burden to bear. Indeed, the truth is that nobody deserves to have their sense of self-worth defined by other people.
Success is different for different people. It is your personal choice as to what it means to you. Indeed, a critical thing to do in your life is to really just sit down and ponder how YOU would define success. What would it mean for you? More money? A great family? A deep spiritual connection to the Divine? You have to decide.
Always remember that acceptance is the key. The first step with regards to anything that manifests in your life is simply being able to accept that it is happening. It is something that you must handle. If you choose to stay in denial instead, that is when your problems really begin. Being in denial about how you feel when you experience a failure actually makes it much harder for you to surmount the obstacle that gave rise to the feeling in the first place.
OK. Something went wrong. Fair enough. It is fine to be upset about that for a while. However, don’t stay in that state for too long. Accept your feelings for what they are, and then work through them completely so that they do not linger to cause long-term self-sabotage to your entire life.
You also need to remember to never identify yourself as a failure. Don’t put such labels on yourself. They do not help you in any way whatsoever. When you do so, you make it very difficult to overcome what you have created. It is simply not true that you are “a failure” because something did not work out the way you hoped. That does not make you, or anybody else who experiences this kind of thing, a failure. Nobody is ever a”failure.” All of this is just thought. It exists only in your mind. You cannot find it out in the physical world.
That kind of thinking can cause you to get into a deep rut. It can blind you to ever seeing the many wonderful opportunities all around you. Any one of these could make everything all right, and set you off on a new and far better direction. Yet, none of this is real in a tangible measurable sense.
Always try to consider the situation from as many angles as possible. Without a doubt, there is almost always a way for you to benefit from your experience, no matter how bad it may seem. Your aim should always be to learn from your failures. Use them as growth opportunities. Ask yourself always, what constructive lessons can I take away from your this?
Consider all the options available in any challenge.
As already mentioned, consider ALL the options rather than behaving as if there are no other alternati
ves. There is always an option if you look for it hard enough. Now, whether you are able to accept that option or not is your personal choice. However, there are always options, and you should remember that.
In conclusion, always understand the simple truth that failure is a very common part of human life. Nothing worthwhile happens easily and without effort. There is always going to be something in the way; some obstacle or challenge to face as a learning experience and overcome. Provided that you are willing to face it head-on and see it all objectively, you will never be a failure. You will always be a success who is capable of Rising From The Ashes!
