When the Lioness attempts a hunt on the savannah, she isn't always successful.  In fact, she's only successful about half the time.  But every time she fails, she's wiser... not to mention hungrier!  She only really loses if she doesn't get back in the game.  It reminds me of batters in baseball.  Champions are made hitting the ball a third of the time.

We all make mistakes.  We say things we don't mean or don't say things we should.  We lose our patience and lose our resolve.  We make selfish choices or forget to say "No" when we should.  We complain about things or gossip about someone.  We forget what we swore we'd remember and we do what we swore we wouldn't.  We trip.  We stumble.  And sometimes we fall.  We swing hard and miss the ball by a mile.  Every single one of us.

So the question is never:  Are you making mistakes?  That's a given.  That's where the growth is.  The bigger question is:  When mistakes do happen, do you see yourself as a mistake?  Do you chastise yourself as a failure?  Or do you frame the mistake as one more lesson in a long line of essential and beautiful lessons that are forming and forging the brilliant person you were meant to be?

The biggest question is:  Do you get back on the horse?  Do you stand back up, dust off your knees and get ready to take the field again?

You'll break your resolve.  Resolve again.

You'll get it wrong.  Try again.

You'll make the wrong choice and get hurt.  Keep making choices.  They get clearer and you get wiser with every wrong one, with every experience.  That's what life's all about.  Learning, growing, standing on what we've learned along the way.

You are not a mistake.  Your imperfections are the makings of your perfection.  Just wiser and hungrier... like the Lioness.