Making mistakes.... James Joyce quoted that: "Mistakes are the portal to discovery". Isn’t that a different way of looking at it? Fred Hoyle quoted: "It is the true nature of mankind to learn from mistakes, not from example". So any mistake that you have personally made - look at it as a valuable learning experience. It has served you a PURPOSE. Don't let it pull you down. Regret and guilt are an absolute waste of energy. Besides, every man and his dog have made them. (So, don't you ever go beating yourself up over them!) Think how much your mistakes could help you GROW. Free your mind up so you can fill it to the brim with good thoughts, loving thoughts and thankful thoughts.... Purge yourself of all that toxic 'spiritual mud' - your guilt, fear and those crappy memories holding you back. Hopefully this is when you will start to blossom. Why? 'Because LOTUSES - the flowers of paradise, grow out of the mud 'pure and clean, like the morning dew from Heaven....' (According to Buddhist texts!)

We must learn to let go of the past and any attachments that are holding us back. We also have to deal with any emotional baggage that will be sabotaging our future. Forgiveness must be extended to ALL. Forgiveness is a DECISION and making that decision is VITAL for your happiness! Forgiveness enables us to find peace and to HEAL. Alexander Pope, the great English poet quoted: "To err is human; to forgive, divine." It is divine indeed. *A very important thing to realize is this: To forgive DOES NOT mean that you CONDONE their hurtful behavior! It does not mean that you are required to have some sort of relationship with the person who did wrong by you.* It simply means LETTING GO of the incident and putting it out of your mind - permanently. Once you have achieved this kind of non-attachment and clearheaded control, your life will improve dramatically!

I look back on all those negatives in the past as something worthwhile. These experiences have given me the INSIGHT as well as the hindsight to help my ‘brothers & sisters’ TODAY. It has given me amazing first hand experience and a new life purpose. I can USE this so-called negative experience for good. It has created in me a desire to help others. Richard Bach quoted: “Master the sky and teach others how to fly.” Maybe, it will create in you the desire to do the same! What I have experienced has given me empathy, compassion, the ability to forgive, a look into the human psyche and what makes us tick. (So, that is a little about my mission in life!)

Melina Dean
http://www.freewebs.com/planet-goddess101