Convert Mistakes into Blessings
(Vinod Anand)

Every single mistake is a blessing in disguise...there are actually untold blessings hidden within every mistake. Children make many mistakes while learning how to ride a bike or write, and we don’t give it a second thought because we know that through their mistakes they will learn and eventually master what they’re trying to do.

So why it is that adults are so hard on themselves? We all make mistakes, and if we didn’t make them we’d never learn anything, and we wouldn’t grow any smarter or wiser. We have the freedom to make our own choices, and the freedom to make mistakes. Mistakes can hurt, but if we don’t1eaai from the mistake we’ve made, the pain we’ve suffered from it has been for nothing. By the law of attraction, we will make the same mistake over and over again, until the consequences hurt so much that we do learn from it!

It’s the very reason why mistakes hurt, so that we do learn from them and don’t make them repeatedly. To learn from a mistake, we first have to ‘own it, and this is where many people can come undone, because they often blame someone else for their mistake. Let’s consider the scenario of being pulled over by the police for speeding and being given a speeding ticket.

Instead of taking responsibility for speeding, we blame the police because they were hiding in the bushes on the highway around a bend; we couldn’t see them, they had a radar gun, and so we didn’t stand a chance. But the mistake was ours, because we were the ones who chose to speed. The problem with blaming other people for our mistake is that we will suffer the pain and consequences of our mistake, but won’t learn from it, and so bingo!

We’ll keep making the same mistake again. You are human, you will make mistakes, and it’s one of the most beautiful things about being human, but you must learn from your mistakes, otherwise your life will have a lot of unnecessary pain. How do you learn from a mistake? Gratitude! No matter how bad something may seem, there are always many things to be grateful for. When you look for as many things as you can to be grateful for in a mistake, you magically transform the mistake into blessings.

Mistakes attract more mistakes, arid blessings attract more blessings—which would you prefer? Today, think about a mistake you have made in your life. It doesn’t matter whether it was a big or small mistake, but choose one that still hurts when you think about it. Maybe you lost your temper with a person close to you and the relationship hasn’t been the same since. Maybe you put blind faith in another person and got burned.

Maybe you told a white lie to protect someone, and because of it you ended up in a difficult situation. You might have chosen the cheaper option on something, and it all went wrong and ended up costing you a whole lot more. You might have thought you were making the right decision about something, but it completely backfired on you.

Once you’ve chosen a mistake to magically transform into blessings, look for the things to be grateful for. Ask yourself: What did I learn from the mistake? What are the good things that came out of the mistake? Every blessing you find has magical power. Write out your list in a gratitude journal or type them on a computer.

Author's Bio: 

VINOD K.ANAND: A BRIEF PROFILE

Born in 1939, and holding Master’s Degree both in Mathematics (1959) and Economics (1961), and Doctorate Degree in Economics (1970), Dr. Vinod K.Anand has about forty five years of teaching, research, and project work experience in Economic Theory (both micro and macro), Quantitative Economics, Public Economics, New Political Economy, and Development Economics with a special focus on economic and social provisions revolving around poverty, inequality, and unemployment issues, and also on informal sector studies. His last assignment was at the National University of Lesotho (Southern Africa) from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that he was placed as Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of North-West in the Republic of South Africa, and University of Allahabad in India, Professor at the National University of Lesotho, Associate Professor at the University of Botswana, Gaborone in Botswana, and at Gezira University in Wad Medani, Sudan, Head, Department of Arts and Social Sciences, Yola in Nigeria, Principal Lecturer in Economics at Maiduguri University in Nigeria, and as Lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in Nigeria. Professor Anand has by now published more than 80 research papers in standard academic journals, authored 11 books, supervised a number of doctoral theses, was examiner for more than twenty Ph.D. theses, and has wide consultancy experience both in India and abroad, essentially in the African continent. This includes holding the position of Primary Researcher, Principal Consultant etc. in a number of Research Projects sponsored and funded by Universities, Governments, and International Bodies like, USAID, IDRC, and AERC. His publications include a variety of themes revolving around Economic Theory, New Political Economy, Quantitative Economics, Development Economics, and Informal Sector Studies. His consultancy assignments in India, Nigeria, Sudan, Botswana, and the Republic of South Africa include Non-Directory Enterprises in Allahabad, India, Small Scale Enterprises in the Northern States of Nigeria, The Absolute Poverty Line in Sudan, The Small Scale Enterprises in Wad Medani, Sudan, Micro and Small Scale Enterprises in Botswana, The Place of Non-Formal Micro-Enterprises in Botswana, Resettlement of a Squatter Community in the Vryburg District of North West Province in the Republic of South Africa, Trade and Investment Development Programme for Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises: Support for NTSIKA in the Republic of South Africa, and Development of the Manufacturing Sector in the Republic of South Africa’s North West Province: An Approach Based on Firm Level Surveys. Professor Anand has also extensively participated in a number of conferences, offered many seminars, participated in a number of workshops, and delivered a variety of Refresher Lectures at different venues both in India and abroad. Dr. Anand was placed at the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla in the State Himachal Pradesh, India as a Fellow from 2001 to 2003, and had completed a theoretical and qualitative research project/monograph on the Employment Profile of Micro Enterprises in the State of Himachal Pradseh, India.