“The world you see is just a movie in your mind.” — Jack Kerouac
I make mistakes all the time.
I said a lot of stupid things. I made dumb decisions. I failed so often. The hard part about it was not dealing with external consequences, but facing my own judgement.
When I did something wrong, that scene would be played over and over again in my head even long after it happened. Then it would lead to an endless downward spiral of negative thoughts and emotions.
Yes the mistake did occur in real life — but the brutal massacre afterward only happened inside my head.
It’s all invented.
So why did I even bother inventing something that makes me suffer? I might as well invent a way of viewing life that is good for me.
I think it’s tremendously important to develop a powerful relationship with failure. If you’re a coward and stopped by failure there’s no way to develop. Making mistakes is the most valuable training there is.
My teacher used to say you can’t play great music unless your heart has been broken. So maybe the answer is to have more broken hearts and get on with it. That’s why I teach my students to celebrate mistakes. Every time they make mistakes I say, ‘How fascinating!’ — Benjamin Zander.