Welcome to your session today.
Today might get a little uncomfortable,
And that's okay.
It's kind of the point,
Actually.
We're talking about failure,
How to recognize it,
How to understand it,
And how to use it as a vehicle to learn how to do things differently next time.
We often see failure and mistakes as a really negative,
Detrimental thing.
But what if every time we fail at something,
It's an opportunity for growth?
What if we started looking at all of our failures,
All of the times where maybe we haven't lived up to someone else's expectation or potential,
Where we haven't been the conscientious student,
The moments where we've had to fall?
What if we started looking at those as moments of growth,
Opportunities to learn?
What would happen?
How would we internalize potentially a different emotion that isn't shame or guilt,
That isn't regret or disappointment,
But a little bit of neutrality around it,
An aha moment,
Perhaps?
Take a moment to get really comfortable with your body and your breath.
Close the windows of your eyes,
And let's begin.
This might be really uncomfortable,
Understanding failure,
Having to come to grips with the reality that perhaps we aren't perfect,
But perhaps we're not supposed to be.
Maybe we're just supposed to be human.
And failure is just as important as success.
We're never going to be perfect or right or good at something the very first time we try.
It takes multiple attempts over and over,
Multiple times of us showing up for ourselves to get something right.
If you think about the great Renaissance artists,
Those murals on chapel walls and ceilings didn't come to be at the first attempt.
That beautiful lighting from the side was developed over time.
The minute,
Fine,
Beautiful detail,
The musculature in the sculptures didn't just come to be.
It took time.
It took multiple attempts and failure,
Beautiful failure,
Over and over to become good.
And even then,
Once we've accomplished the good thing,
There's always room for improvement.
There's always a different way or a different technique that we could employ next time to make that project just a little bit better,
A little bit more refined.
There's so much pressure put on us from such an early age to succeed in a way that is determined by someone else.
What would happen if the same emphasis and importance was put on all of the attempts and all of the failures?
There's an opportunity for growth every time we fail at something.
Every time we get the geometry question incorrect.
Every time we spell something wrong.
Every time someone brings our attention to,
Oh,
You could have done this differently.
You could have done this better or been more productive or changed this.
What if we looked at that as an opportunity for growth instead of a failure?
Failure is not a commentary on who you are as a fundamental human being.
It doesn't define who you are.
It's not an assault to your character.
It's just a moment where maybe there's something different that we could try next time.
It's an opportunity to grow,
To learn a different way of doing things.
But it doesn't make you a bad person or an unworthy person.
It makes you human.
And that's kind of beautiful.
So placing your hands over your heart today and giving yourself a little bit of softness,
The permission to make messes,
Create chaos,
Make mistakes,
And fail.
Because it's in that beautiful failure that we learn and we grow.
Taking a big breath in and out.
Remembering that you're human.
And that failure is not a space that is a commentary on who you are.
It's just a space to grow from.
