Assiniboine Nakoda woman

It takes guts to examine your failures, but that’s just what we need to do in order to learn and grow.

The take-away in a brief news item in today’s New York Times notes that taking time to consider why something went awry makes us better.

The writer, Oset Babür, draws quotes from researchers armed with evidence that talking helps guide us through analyzing our mistakes and helps us in the next encounter.

Makes sense.

I realized how I find the mantra, “Never Stop Learning,” so fundamental when I shared a meal recently with friends and relatives.

One of the guests at our table complained about figuring out his cell-phone, saying, “I’m glad I don’t need to learn anymore.”

Pity.

It really does take guts to make yourself vulnerable to failure when you learn something new: especially about yourself.

The payback is huge: you gain confidence to confront your next calamity and you get better with each calorie spent on practice.

A new language? A new hobby? A new book?

When I feel overcome by fear of failure—which happens often—I remember the warrior culture of my ancestors, and think, OK:

Bring it on.

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18 August 2018

Image of an Assiniboine warrior woman (link to website)

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