I love the quote by Robert F. Kennedy that says, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”
Over the last two weeks I’ve been experiencing a MAJOR writing slump. You see writing is one of my passions but like anything else, I have to show up, do the work AND accept failure as a possibility (especially if I plan on writing and publishing a book). The only problem is the thought of failure makes me cringe. In fact, I still find myself running from it whenever possible. Interestingly enough, what I’ve come to realize is I have to be willing to fail greatly in order to grow exponentially.
So after two weeks of feeling creatively uninspired, I finally owned up to all of the excuses as to how & why I had gotten myself into this slump- personal responsibilities, lack of time, schedule conflicts, teaching… Let’s just say resistance mode was in full effect. There was so much resistance, I actually put off writing the post until 6 am this morning but after a little meditation, I decided it was time to show up and put words to a page.
Two and half hours later, not only did I feel good about what I wanted to share with you, I felt the wave of resistance dissipate and then it happened…my computer crapped out on me and just like that- the post was gone. Talk about failure!
I spent a good twenty minutes perturbed by the fact that I had finally moved through the resistance and all I wanted to do was make my morning deadline to share it with you. Although it was such a minor snafu, in some ways I still felt as though I had failed. Then I remembered a post I read yesterday that inspired me to give it another go. The post is entitled Failure = Fuel by
Chris Assaad, an amazing singer/songwriter, mentor, friend, brother and overall kind hearted- genuine spirit. In the post he writes…
“If you’re not failing, you’re not really growing. If you’re not failing, you’re not taking enough risks. If you’re not failing, you’re not fully living!”
He goes on further to say…
“Failure is an opportunity to learn, to make refinements, and to expand. Failure is proof that we’re playing a big game. Failure is a necessary stop on the path to success. Failure is fuel for greatness.”
Deep down I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if we collectively dared to fail greatly.
I imagine the pressure and need to succeed would be diminished, creativity would thrive and there would be greater numbers of artists, entrepreneurs, light workers, leaders, and visionaries in the world.
In the spirit of daring to fail greatly- here’s to finding the courage to show up, to takes risks, to learn, to grow, and expand. May we recognize that failure is a necessary stop on the path to success and that failure is indeed the fuel for greatness.
Sending You All My Love,
Namaste
Alana
