Being Human is "Being Human"

Being human is "being human". We ARE going to make mistakes. That's how we learn. My children and students are told that if they're not making mistakes, they're not trying hard enough (not taking enough risk in thinking new thoughts, trying new things, etc).

They are also told that if they're making the same mistakes over and over again, they're not trying hard enough (not learning from their mistakes).

Hopefully the mistakes we make don't hurt others or make their lives worse (as in the cases of domestic violence, child abuse, etc). Some mistakes are much more severe than others.

Keep this in mind when others make mistakes, no matter how aggravating they may be. How we react has a big effect on what others learn from their mistakes:

"I did a dumb thing and can learn from it." or "I am dumb and a mistake"

"That was stupid. I'm smarter than that." or "I am stupid. What's wrong with me?"

"That was bad and I'm better than that. I'll apologize." or "I am bad and terrible and rotten and worthless."

Think of better things you can say to yourself and others when mistakes are made.

Bella flooded the bathroom floor once, forgetting to put the inside curtain inside the tub, causing it to rain down on the first floor. As she stood in the bathroom wrapped in her towel, she looked at me thoughtfully and said, "Well, I've never made that mistake before."

I was stunned for a few moments, and could only say, "Well please don't make it again" and walked away allowing my anger to be replaced by the truth and humor of her words.

Inner strength is walking your talk, and living up to your words. It IS NOT in beating a child or spouse or even yelling at a driver who cut you off. Get a bigger problem to really get angry about. No one can MAKE you angry. Only you can.

"You can tell the size of a person by what makes him or her angry." - ?????

So on a lighter note, here are some pictures of humans being human. Enjoy the silly things we silly creatures do.