My self image

Even with the best of intentions and true sincerity, it is not always possible to push the world out of our lives. People around us will not leave us to our ways even if we do not intrude into theirs. We have in many ways to adjust ourselves to the people around us. And, if there is any success at any enterprise we attempt- it is largely determined by our own self - image. Human life on earth is a hurdle race. As soon as we overcome one difficulty a new difficulty appears. People who exude confidence in their personal worth seem to be magnets of success and happiness. Good things drop into their laps regularly, their relationships are long-lasting, and their plans are usually carried to completion. To use the imagery of the English poet William Blake, they "catch joy on the wing".

Mistakes

Whenever I make a mistake or get knocked down by life, I look back at it too long. I keep forgetting that mistakes are life's way of teaching me, and that my capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from my capacity to reach my goals. If I ever intent to be triumphant over my failures, when they happen, I must learn to shake off my blunders instead of pondering over them. If I ever make decisions that turn out to be wrong, I must learn to go back and do it another way, taking less time than many who procrastinated over the original decision.

An error doesn't become a mistake until I refuse to correct it. I must learn to make the mistakes of yesterday my lessons for today. If I have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for me. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down. Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied.

“Lord, deliver me from the person who never makes a mistake, and also from the person who makes the same mistake twice. “