"Mistakes, when taken to heart, are Lessons in Motion."
Has this happened to you? You are stuck, not actually, physically stuck, say in quick sand, although it may feel that way at the time, but stuck mentally. I know that writers get writers block, beginning a chapter in their book and typing away, then suddenly they can't figure out where to take the story from there. They struggle, trying so hard time goes by, they feel the pressure, it begins to eat them up inside. "And these are the days of our lives" to coin a phrase from a soap opera my mother used to watch when I was a little girl.
These times are about being blocked, feeling stuck, when in reality we have the power if we listened, "Step away from the computer, you are blocked, if you wait for it, it will come."
So true is this in life! If we are searching for something, so desperate to be the very best in our field, (we are such a competitive society)! We end up missing the important message. We are our futures. We are our own givers. And when we want others to do it all for us, or believe that to be the case, not only can it bring disappointment upon us, but those we are putting the pressure on!
Mistakes, we all make mistakes, (and being the queen, I can tell all my subjects, the four kids sleeping upstairs), that I am no wiser or greater than anyone else. Because mistakes are good things. Perfection is a fine goal, to be sure, however, perfection is so beyond us, that I tell my kids strive for "Your" best, not what someone else is doing. Not to be the very best to the point it is no longer any fun, but do what is the best for you at this time, this moment.
Remember, mistakes when taken to heart, are lessons in motion. That thought came to me one day as I was hanging linen outside on my clothesline. It has been such a rainy spring, that on the nice warm day, notice I said "the," nice warm day, I washed all the linens, the smell of clean sheets always calming.
As I hummed to myself, I noticed a fraying on one of the ropes of my very old wooden clothesline. So being the one that can't have anything go wrong, I try to enforce it. Big mistake, my pristine sheets were soon on the ground, dirt stained, dog feet running over them, and me screaming, "Get off the sheets!" Not only did one rope fall, they were all connected, so all the laundry which I had so meticulously hung was now another load being sent back to be done again.
Anger, oh yeah! Irritated, you batch ya! P.O'd doesn't describe it. Here I was thinking I was doing the perfect job. A job well done, and how much my family would love to sleep in their clean beds.
I picked up the wet clothes and linen, now completely covered in dog hair and prints, and trudged to the back door. Opened it, and dropped the now twice as heavy basket. Twice as heavy for my disappointment, I have to do it again, and this time they go in the dryer! Dryer sheets and all, spring day scent too! My intentions of doing something good, were still good intentions, yet I brooded all day about it. I even complained at the table, where my daughter simply said, "Mom, there sheets, who cares?"
I just stared at her, silent, rare for me! I sat and spent an entire day brooding in the house, when the birds were singing, and the sun was warm, brooding about what a stupid mistake I had made, and in less than five seconds it was reduced to the truth. "They are just sheets," nothing more, and they are clean now, and we will sleep just as well on them tonight fresh from the dryer as we would have from them being outside.
Isn't that ridiculous! How much time do we spend brooding and hemming and hawing on things that are so trivial? Human nature can make a mountain out of a mole hill faster than my dog can eat her breakfast, (3.5 seconds, water not included)!
That's pretty fast, and what happens when we do this, a day is lost, a walk, a conversation with friends, some time in the garden, or a walk with the dogs. It was a silly little mistake, and yet, I let it throw me off the deep end.
Haven't we all been in a situation like this? Something little, and we make a huge production of it. Others see it as "What's the big deal?" You want to hit them, because to you it is, at that time, in that place. But.....before you become frustrated the next time, stop and think. As the writer steps away from the computer, maybe takes a walk, showers, and feels the intensity that we create wash away, then return to their computer, now no longer blocked, but while not thinking about what was driving you nuts, you came to a new realization, a new chapter. Sheets will dry, beds made, and then when it's all said and done, "It's our bed, and we must lie in it," but our minds more one with the center of ourselves, our thinking clear.
So let the writer write, the sheet get washed, the dogs get walked, and the simple things lead us. Be driven by what you love and when life gives you a blip, go with it, don't blame anyone but yourself, or take your anger and frustration out on others. Move on, remember they are just sheets, and they can be rewashed. When life gives you lemons make lemonade, don't suck on a sour lemon, (It's bad for your teeth), but move on. Mistakes are meant to happen, sometimes big ones, sometimes small ones, and sometimes a lot of them that explode in of you, and you find yourself standing there, in what feels like a very empty desert, still hanging onto your laundry basket, as if that's the only thing now, that is balanced in your life.
It's not, and time will heal all wounds. My life, it's a laundry basket, my clothesline, my life line. I put new rope on, it's stronger than ever. And the sheets flapping in the wind are soothing. This can be each day for all of us, depending on how we look at it. A lesson is motion? Or a mistake? Either way, it's a basket of laundry, that can be wiped clean, reused, and reused again. I think my life is summed up that way, "My life when taken to heart, is a lesson in motion, with some sheets in the wind along the way."
Dr. Vicki Monroe has been seeing the loved ones who have passed since the age of three. Make an appointment today to hear from the loved ones that have crossed. Love is ever lasting, and she is the proof that delivers! You can contact her at 207-499-0067 for a phone reading, or schedule a personal session.
She is also a contributing staff writer for this magazine, as well as a published author, television personality, radio host, and international speaker. For more information on Dr. Monroe you can check her website at www.vickimonroe.com
