Today’s Mandala
Mis-takes
“I hope that in this year to come,
— Neil Gaiman
you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes,
then you are making new things,
trying new things, learning,
living, pushing yourself,
changing yourself,
changing your world.
You’re doing things
you’ve never done before,
and more importantly,
you’re doing something.”
“A life spent making mistakes
— George Bernard Shaw
is not only more honorable,
but more useful
than a life spent
doing nothing.”
“Life is not about
— Jaime Escalante
how many times you fall down.
It’s about how many times
you get back up.”
Today’s MotD encourages us to celebrate our mis-takes…because, for the most part, that’s what they are mis-takes…we tried something, it failed (that time), now what do we do about it. Our challenge becomes 1) accepting that we’re human and it comes with the territory and 2) keeping from beating ourselves up over them. It’s not the falling down that matters so much as the getting back up.
We may also consider adopting the art of imperfection as practiced by such cultures as the Japanese, Navajo, and in the Punjab region of India where they purposely add an imperfection to their art/craft. It’s a reminder that flaws are an integral part of being human.
Looking closely (or maybe not even that closely) at today’s MotD, I made a glaring error (at least to me). When I made it, for a brief moment I thought about starting another one. Then it came to me what today’s message is all about: accepting that we make mis-takes. So I left it as is. (and for the doily makers out there —of which I am one— there’s more than one)
Theodore Roosevelt sums it up best:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the [one] who points out how the strong [one] stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the [one] who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends [themselves] in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if [they] [fail], at least fails while daring greatly, so that [their] place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
btw…started with this and a shimmer view:
Mandala of the Day 