264-Your best teacher is your last mistake- Buddhism in daily life

Your best teacher is your last mistake

If we make one mistake and do not correct it, we are already making the second.

Mistakes are part of life, we all make mistakes.

The question is, how do we deal with it, what do we do when we realize the mistake?

Often we notice the mistake the moment we make it.

But what can we do, should we "fix it" even at the risk of "losing face"? Or look aside in shame and "forget about it"?

Buddha said: There are only two mistakes one can make on the path to truth - Not going all the way, or not starting it!

So, according to the historical great man, we should walk the path of reality, clearing the oversight. My mother always says, "Son, what is true you may say".

So a Buddhist should have the human greatness to admit his shortcomings, to stand by his actions, and to try to correct them if possible. Because according to Buddha, soft can be stronger than hard.

Shame is a natural feeling, such as when we have done something wrong, we feel ashamed. But isn't it clearly better for us if we overcome this brief moment of insecurity, muster the inner virtue and "fix" the mistake right now?

Yes, it is!

Because an oversight can quickly turn into a bigger lie, the untruth then gives rise to suffering, for us and for those around us, the popular saying goes: "a mosquito gives rise to an elephant".

Example: I do not tell my wife that a colleague "adores" me in the office. When she happens to see the co-worker with me on the street, she thinks I am having an affair with her. Because I did not clear up the mistake at the beginning, a real problem arises, we all know such situations, often it goes well, but sometimes "the shot backfires".

Learning from mistakes and mishaps brings us further, we also grow from the mistakes we make. But only if we stand by these "weak points", if we see them as part of our life, if we start to see our mistakes as positive as our strengths, because where there are no mountains, there are no valleys.

So, the next mistake you make, you should celebrate it, really celebrate it, enjoy it, because it is a part of your self, your being, your personality. Just like the solution to the problem, you should also "celebrate" it and "experience" it in its entirety.

In a great book I read: "For he who is free from error, let him cast the first stone".

When the first missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They asked us to pray. And we closed our eyes. When we opened them again, the situation was reversed: we had the Bible and they had the land.

- Desmond Mpilo Tutu - South African clergyman - born 1931

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