MISTAKES

Definition of Mistake:
An act or judgement that is misguided or wrong.

Synonyms of Mistake:
Error, fault, slip, miscalculation, oversight, misinterpretation, etc.

These notes are from recovery in AA and/or related 12 step programs. Readers are encouraged to click external links for more detail. We hope you find them helpful.

Love in fellowship.

Today I am able to learn from my mistakes because I can see that they really were mistakes! My big mistake in life was trying to drink alcohol like a non-alcoholic. I couldn’t do it. –Father Leo | More…

We aren’t used to admitting our mistakes. We defend ourselves or blame others. This is called denial.

Denial is bad for two reasons. First, it keeps us from learning from our mistakes, so we keep making them. Second, we don’t listen to others, so we close off ourselves and become lonely. –Keep It Simple | More…

Mistakes are a vital and important part of being human. Mistakes are often our best teachers.

There is no shame in making mistakes. We learn from our mistakes. Repeating the same ones may be a sign that we’re stuck. –Just For Today | More…

There are times we don’t know which way to proceed or what to do next. You don’t have to live life as perfectly as you think. Sometimes it takes making a mistake in order for us to get clear. –More Language Of Letting Go | More…

The Creator designed us to learn by trial and error.
The path of life we walk is very wide.

Everything on the path is sacred – what we do right is sacred – but our mistakes are also sacred. This is the Creator’s way of teaching spiritual people.

To criticize ourselves when we make mistakes is not part of the spiritual path. The definition of a spiritual person is someone who makes 30-50 mistakes each day and talks to the Creator after each one to see what to do next time. –Elders Meditations | More…

There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes. That’s the way we learned in the past and that’s how we’re learning now.

Living a spiritual life doesn’t mean we have to be grim. In fact, increasing joy and merriment is an unavoidable result of turning our will over to a Higher Power.

Now we can relax and enjoy life, and that includes enjoying our less-than-perfect selves. –In God’s Care/Karen Casey | More…

There are times we don’t know which way to proceed or what to do next. You don’t have to live life as perfectly as you think. Sometimes it takes making a mistake in order for us to get clear. –More Language Of Letting Go | More…

We make mistakes because we are human, we are imperfect, we are frequently out of touch with the rhythms of the moment. When our minds are one place, either still trapped by the past or in limbo due to fear of the future, we fail to revere the experience of the present.

And only when we salute completely the moment do we respond accurately to its meaning. Perhaps we’d do well to consider all mistakes as simply modifications in the original plans.

Corrections triggered by mistakes may well be responsible for better outcomes. Mistakes may be part of the process necessary to keep our spiritual program focused.

However, we shouldn’t dwell on the mistake but, rather, on the remedy. –The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey/Martha Vanceburg  | More…

When we accept imperfection as a fact of life, we make peace with the constant need for repairs. Saying I made a mistake and I owe you an apology is never fun, but when we do it we grow stronger.

We do not learn anything new from correctly repeating what we already know. We learn from making mistakes and repairing them. –The More We Find In Each Other/Merle and Mavis Fossum | More…

One of the first things we need to learn in taking responsibility is that there is no shame in making a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. But some people don’t accept responsibility for them, and others do.

We have much greater respect for someone who does. Admitting when we were wrong doesn’t means saying what we did or didn’t do and laying the facts out there for us and others to deal with. When we can do that, forgiveness almost always follows shortly. –Wisdom to Know | More…

Sometimes we call straying; our mistakes. We are designed by the Creator to walk the Sacred Path of life, and realize that our mistakes are the source of lessons.

These lessons give us our wisdom. It is not wrong that we are tempted. What matters is what we do with the temptation. –Elders | More…

The Creator did not design us to beat ourselves up when we make mistakes.
Mistakes are our friends. It is from mistakes that we learn.
The more mistakes we learn from, the faster we gain wisdom.

The faster we gain wisdom, the more we love. The more we love, the fewer our mistakes.
Therefore, mistakes help us to learn love. God is love. Mistakes are sacred and help us learn about God’s will for ourselves. –Elders | More…

Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century:
1, Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others;
2, Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected
3, insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it
4, Refusing to set aside trivial preferences
5, Neglecting development and refinement of the mind
6, Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do. –Cicero

We make mistakes because we are human, we are imperfect, we are frequently out of touch with the rhythms of the moment. When our minds are one place, either still trapped by the past or in limbo due to fear of the future, we fail to revere the experience of the present. And only when we salute completely the moment do we respond accurately to its meaning. Perhaps we’d do well to consider all mistakes as simply modifications in the original plans. Corrections triggered by mistakes may well be responsible for better outcomes. Mistakes may be part of the process necessary to keep our spiritual program focused. However, we shouldn’t dwell on the mistake but, rather, on the remedy. –The Promise of a New Day | More…

The Creator designed us to learn by trial and error. The path of life we walk is very wide. Everything on the path is sacred – what we do right is sacred – but our mistakes are also sacred. This is the Creator’s way of teaching spiritual people. To criticize ourselves when we make mistakes is not part of the spiritual path. The definition of a spiritual person is someone who makes 30-50 mistakes each day and talks to the Creator after each one to see what to do next time. –Elders Meditations | More…