You Have Never Been Wrong

The belief that we are ‘wrong’ is so deep in the psyche that at first it may be difficult to let in the truth that our challenges are here because they are tailor-made to bring us to awakening. We have all done unskillful things in our lives, but we have a choice in how we relate to our unskillfulness. To judge yourself as ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ keeps you caught in an ongoing prison of struggle. To bring understanding and compassion opens you to the freedom of connection and joy. 

In order to make this shift, you need to understand that everyone makes mistakes and everyone judges themselves for doing so. The more I awaken, the more I realize the truth in the Grateful Dead song Scarlet Begonias, “I have seldom been right but I have never been wrong.” Or as one of my teachers once said to me, “With all of the mistakes you have made, you have never made a mistake.” How can this be true? 

In Lynn Andrews’ Medicine Woman series, Agnes Whistling Elk says, “Everything begins with a circle of motion. Without the positive and negative poles, there would be no movement, there would be no creation. Without your shadow side, your beauty would not exist!” For years I couldn’t allow this truth in. I couldn’t accept that I was made out of both dark and light, strengths and weaknesses. I believed I had proof that I had done wrong and thus I was wrong. It also appeared to me that everybody else had it together and I did not. It was like an oozing wound inside of me that I kept opening up by my attachment to shame. When I finally saw that I was wounding myself where I was the most wounded, I began the slow opening of my bruised but tender heart.

For just this moment, allow in the mercy of realizing that at every step of the way you have done the best you knew how at that moment in time. Let go of the knee jerk reaction of “I could have done better,” and let the healing of compassion in. We are all wounded in some way or another. And when these wounds come close to the surface through the ups and downs of Life, we all react in unskillful ways. The way out of this morass is to let go of blame. As you discover a more compassionate relationship with both your strengths and your weaknesses, your storms of struggle will calm down enough for you to hear the voice of wisdom inside of you that knows the path to the healing and well-being you long for. 

Image of Scarlet Begonias by Jena Rockwood    www.jenarockwood.com