Do you frequently make mistakes in your work, and if so, why?
Depends on what work you are referring to I guess.
Life has been good. Presently I have a job that I excel at and am privileged to be surrounded by fun, respectful people. For the first time in a long time I am putting my best foot forward with this job and it shows. Just prior to typing this my supervisor came in and I thought I would ask her opinion regarding my performance. As she normally does, she automatically asked me what I thought my level of mistakes were and we both laughed for we knew the answer; there were none. Well let me put a little disclaimer here because it is possible that there are mistakes of mine in the system but the only way for us to know is if someone reports it; No news is good news.
That being said, my writing on here feels like a catastrophe at times. I pride myself of being a good proofreader but it is really tough to proofread your own material (that's my story anyways lol). I was just discussing this with my hubby the other night for he asked me if I proofread my material prior to posting. The answer was yes but I don't take the painstaking time needed for me to be 100% accurate. One of the beliefs I have regarding this type of scenario is that I don't proofread well on screens; print that letter off on paper and the mistakes just jump of the page; something apparently to work on!
Editor I'm not
When asking myself this question no definitive answer was forthcoming as to why my proofreading sucks but I will give this more thought. Although, a new thought came to me about what a mistake actually is. You ask anyone what mistakes they have made in their life and they can rattle them off like an auctioneer. How do you know if they were a mistake?
The concept of a mistake is a very interesting topic. Sure when we are younger and we are writing tests there is a definitive wrong and right answer; 2 + 2 = 4. No discussion required. The challenge comes in when we are older and more complex material is presented and the answers are no longer black and white. I remember this exact situation happening in my high school English class. We were taking Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and when we were asked to write an essay on the play but I had a completely different take on it. To my teacher's credit she remarked that it was an interesting perspective but I still got a low grade. Would that be classified as a mistake? You can see both sides of the argument in this situation for if I had stuck to mainstream thinking I could have got a better mark. On the other hand, staying true to myself and writing what I believed would be applauded in some circles.
What are mistakes?
How does an event get classified as a mistake? The easy answer is too look at the outcome; positive means that it wasn't and negative means that it is. That can't be the only basis for there are people that have positive things happen to them and yet there still can be a negative outcome. You have seen that happen where people get their dream job only to have it morph into a nightmare or meet the persons of their dreams and they get divorced shortly after. The answer is not in the outcome but in the attitude towards the event. Let's focus on the negative aspect for a moment. Is concentrating on the outcome a good basis for the decision because to one person it can be negative and to another motivation. How can that be when the event is horrible? I was listening to Kevin Trudeau and he said something that tweaked my interest. He told the story of how he was publicly humiliated by his high school guidance counselor when he declared Kevin was a loser. Sounds awful doesn't it? I won't tell you the outcome intentionally to prove a point. Did the counselor make a mistake? For all intents and purposes that could be grounds for dismissal for teachers/ counselors are held to a higher standard. How many of us would have listed that as one of the "mistakes" in our life or the groundwork for making future ones? Kevin went on to say that the power in each event is the choice of response. In each event we can decide how to interpret it as motivation or misery. Misery usually is the background emotion associated with mistakes. What's interesting is that to Kevin it was the best thing that every happened to him. He credits that event as the pivotal point in motivating him to becoming a success.
So does that mean our emotions are lying to us when we feel bad over an experience? No, what it does mean is that we may need to take a closer inspection on what is really happening. Each event that enters into our lives is a response to a believe that we have. This concept is a tough one for me to wrap my head around at times but yet it is the best news I have heard. Why? The reason is because I don't have to continue having the same events over and over if I don't want to. The only mistake, if you can call it that, is to not be aware of the power we have. I have experienced that with my current relationship for there are some dark behaviors that are burping up that remind me of my dad and my ex. So what it a mistake to marry my hubby? What if the behaviors continue and dynamics of the relationship slowly transform my hubby to be more like the other two, would it have been wrong to marry him? In my understanding, no for this was the best decision I have made for a multitude of reasons. These behaviors are specifically tailored to show me the toxic beliefs I still harbor deep within my mind. My hubby was tailor picked by my frequencies to give me the perfect blend and opportunity to examine them; if not him then someone else. I am learning that whenever I go and whatever I do, I come with me for I cannot escape myself or how I think. The only solution is to address the beliefs that draw that behavior out of him. It will be very interesting to see what changes occur when the need for that behavior is vanquished.
Today I will take a closer look at the events that occur in my life and see them as expressions instead of mistakes.