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I F*cked Up, Can I Say Thank You to Failure?

A typical response to failure is to cringe, hide, or bury it.  And to be clear, there is nothing wrong with that.  Those responses are more than healthy.

But what if we decided to say thank you to our failure instead of our otherwise automatic, programed response of cringing into a shell of ourselves?  

There may be a case that doing the opposite could help:

'Doing the opposite' is a really effective, straightforward strategy to change your emotional state that can be difficult to put into action. This technique involves doing the opposite of whatever behaviors you normally perform due to painful or negative emotions.

For this Thanksgiving, I am trying to flip the script completely.  What if we run towards the failure instead of running away from it?  What if we can find what we're thankful for instead of resisting the failure?  What if the failure is there for a reason?  What if we fail to listen to the failure?

In general, this is about expanding our vision - viewing and using problems as outlets for growth instead of reasons to narrow our capabilities.  You only have so many Thanksgivings left on this earth - let that not fill you with sorrow, but empower you to embrace this amazing day.  When you sit down to eat, you're allowed to be thankful.  You're also allowed to recognize that failure can coexist with gratitude.  

It's possible you burned the turkey.  You can thank that failure - maybe it opened your eyes to a new restaurant or maybe you're using the burned turkey as a vehicle for becoming a better chef.  It's possible you got into an argument with a family member.  You can thank that failure - maybe it opened your eyes to your views, your family member's views, and hopefully, that there's some middle ground somewhere.  If not, you have permission to be thankful that you expressed yourself and that you have the ability to express yourself.  Did you express yourself the way you wanted?  Did it violate your principles and boundaries?  Did it upset or anger the family member?  You have license to be thankful to have the awareness to ask and answer these questions.

The point is we should be living life with eyes wide open.  There's no sugarcoating (marshmallowing?) this point.  Enjoy, and thank, your failures today.


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