The Value of Failure

Many people give up just before they achieve what they set out to do. They lose faith and cannot believe that they will really manage it. The result is that many people who feel they are failures are those who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.

Giving up just before attainment comes within your reach is a hard loss to carry. Yet there is no need to be depressed by failure, for it is actually a life-affirming experience. In fact, failure is what leads us on the road to success, because each detection of what is unskilful or false in our search for success leads us to seek more carefully for what is skilful and real.

Every time we falter, make a mistake or fall, we learn something new. Each dead end indicates a new direction, each mistake shows us what to avoid in the future. This occurrence that we call 'failure' is not the falling down but the staying down. If you believe that defeat is your destiny, then you allow yourself to fail. If you treat each failure as a stepping stone on the path to success, then success is yours. Failure tricks us into believing that we have been forced to climb down the ladder of success to the lowest rung. All too often we believe that our failure reflects our inner worth. The shadow of failure is the feeling of inferiority it can bring. While success is a hopeful energy, it can diminish in the face of failure, if we allow it to. Failure is not more than an expression of grief, while success is an abundant shaft of light that creates good things. When you fail, it is the failure of the unknowing part of you, the part that chooses ignorance over knowledge. When you succeed, it is because you refuse to allow failure to be all that you are and move forward with optimism and courage.

Failure strengthens our consciousness if we learn from it and heal the fear that makes us prone to failure. Success educates and supports us and makes us stronger only if we are thankful and respectful for it and share it with others.

'The Tibetan Art of Serenity'

Christopher Hansard

Salam,

Cherine