let go Archives - The Swirl World

My Mother purchased this eraser for me earlier this year when I was working on dissertation edits.

Needless to say, I needed this eraser – and used it often.

The writing on the eraser proudly proclaims: “For BIG Mistakes.” I thought about those words, what an eraser does, and wished the Dollar General made one that could be used on life’s big mistakes.

Have you ever done something you wished you could erase?

Made a decision to go right – when you should have gone left?

Said “Yes” when you should have said, “No?”

Walked away when you should have stayed?

Stayed when you should have walked away?

Unfortunately, neither life nor the Dollar General comes with an eraser For Life’s BIG Mistakes. We have always been told that we should learn from our mistakes, and that’s certainly true enough. Yet, mistakes don’t have to be self-made for us to learn from them; shucks, we can look at the mistakes of others and take a lesson if we choose to pay attention.

I also believe we learn the cure for a BIG mistake when we start over. We take the eraser and start swiping. The relief and the release come when we erase.

How do we erase? We erase when we let go; choose to forgive ourselves if the mistake was ours, or forgive someone if the mistake was theirs.

Erase; erase.

We erase when we decide to accept the concept of imperfection: Screw ups, blunders, lapses in judgment, missteps and major disasters. Yes; those imperfections can happen to us – and they can certainly happen to others. (You know – those people who do/did us wrong).

Erase, erase, erase.

We demonstrate that we have learned the cure for BIG mistakes when we dust off, regroup, recover and keep moving forward. Sadder? Maybe. Wiser? Definitely!

We move forward; on and up to the next step. We physically and emotionally put one foot in front of the other and keep going.

We soon discover not only have we progressed; we’ve grown and matured.

Ultimately, we see that we are better for the mistake.

And that’s when we know the cure is complete.

Join in the Fray: When have you had to use a BIG eraser?