Imagining a world where there are no mistakes

As I move through my coach training and certification process, I frequently hear my teachers saying that it is OK to make a mistake. To not worry about “getting it right”.  I heard this a lot, too, when I was going through my initial Reiki training.

This advice strikes a chord deep within me since, as a double Virgo who is nearly obsessed with getting things to be perfect, I’ve been struggling with giving myself permission to make a "mistake". So in a moment of recognition, I decided I needed to understand why the chord was struck in the first place. I realized I wasn’t struggling with taking a risk, or being OK with taking a risk, but with this concept called A Mistake.

Take a look at these synonyms:

Ø    Error

Ø    Fault

Ø    Blunder

Ø    Gaffe

Ø    Inaccuracy

Ø    Misstep

How do those words make you feel?

I don’t know about you but I feel like crawling into a hole.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned in my spiritual work is that there is no concept of right and wrong. Viewing actions, behaviors, and emotions as either right or wrong keeps us stuck in feelings of fear, guilt and shame, of judgment. As a result, we go into a state of energetic resistance, which then blocks us from achieving our desired results .… To take it a step further, right/wrong thinking blocks us from seeing the Divine within.

The word Mistake is laden with negative energy. So when I tell myself, “It’s OK to make a mistake” it means that such a thing exists and I am undoubtedly going to commit a WRONG, incorrect, unwise, or unfortunate act caused by bad judgment. That I should have known better.

Wow! No wonder people are frightened to step out of the comfort zone – who would want to invoke that energy, even if they are encouraged “to be ok with it”.

New Perspectives on Mistakes

One of my favorite anecdotes about mistakes and “failing” involves Thomas Edison. When asked to comment on how many times he failed to invent the light bulb, Edison stated that he did not fail but discovered a thousand ways to not build a light bulb. To quote: “I never failed once – It just happened to be a 2000-step process.” He confirms my view that the path to success is actually predicated upon all of the paths that lead to non-success – that our actions and decisions represent paths that lead to us to exploration. Sometimes the pathways don’t yield the desired result, but there are always lessons to be learned – lessons to be built upon, that lay a foundation of knowledge and wisdom.

Transforming the Energy

One of the exercises I do with my Reiki clients is to create an intention for the session so the energy healing can not only resolve what’s going on in the moment but also help manifest what is desired. The goal is to focus on what we want to happen, but in the present tense and in a positive way. For example, we focus on “I feel great – I am completely healthy” as opposed to focusing on “I am not sick with the flu”. I have been told the brain cannot process negatives so if we say “I am not sick with the flu”, the brain interprets it as “I am sick with the flu”. To focus on the negative, even in an effort to transform it, is to remain bound by it.

So I invite you to release yourself completely from the chains of Mistakes, and in thus doing so, invoke creativity, and invite explorations beyond what you initially imagined.