“Anyone who firmly intends to reach the goal must stop paying attention to the dust of everyday life and the small stains that appear on his garment along the way.
Your foot will remain permanently stuck in one place, and you will never trust your own steps if you allow yourself to be troubled by the mistakes that cannot be entirely avoided.
You will waste your most precious strength if you try to imitate the ‘saint’ and strive at all costs to remain ‘faultless’…
You cannot utilize your powers if you are constantly concerned with avoiding every mistake; for wherever you are truly active, you will simultaneously fall into errors and transgressions without intending to.
And should you fall deeply where you did not wish to fall, rise at once and forget that you ever fell!
Even when your own will has led to your fall, you should have no other concern than to immediately get back on your feet!
Truly, he who feels within himself the strength to rise after a fall strides forward better than he who, in constant fear, avoids every stumble!”
— Bô Yin Râ, The Book on the Living God
The fear of making mistakes is sometimes the greatest saboteur on the path of change we have chosen.
If you recognize that you are still hearing—and even listening to—its voice, make a choice: what is more important to you right now? Protecting yourself from mistakes, or making the life changes you desire, even if it means stumbling along the way?
