Our Perception

It seems as though we, as human beings, seem to put ourselves down when we fail. At times, it seems as though we have tried many times, but we cannot seem to succeed. Or sometimes it seems as though we are so far from our ultimate goal that all seems hopeless, doesn't it?

The missionary on the right side is Elder Park Kyung Min.

Whenever I think about Elder Park,  I remember a wonderful missionary. I want to argue, however, that Elder Park was not the great missionary he was at the end of his mission when he first started his two year journey in Anaheim, California. I'm pretty sure he had beat himself up in the past for making mistakes, forgetting things, saying the wrong things, and probably the list goes on and on. It seems as though we all go through what we all know as steps of progression. We all learn from mistakes or from experiences in the past, and there is not really a way to really understand the value of our knowledge without experience. Our mistakes shape who we are and what we eventually become in a positive way if we view our mistakes as 'learning opportunities'.

It is simply not possible for us to not make a single mistake in our life. A Pianist has probably made many mistakes in his playing before he can play a concerto to perfection; A Master Carpenter has probably gotten countless splinters while learning to make beautiful furniture; and an author may go through rigorous amounts of drafts in order to ultimately write a notable novel. My point is, everyone makes mistakes. It's cliche, it's hard, but it is inevitable.

Lately, I've been listening to the Tangled sound track a lot, because it's not distracting to my missionary work, but the lyrics that stick to my brain are "I have a dream!" Well, if it's humanly possible, it's probably achievable. It has been said for a long time that we were created in the image of God. Doesn't that mean that our potential is much more than what we think we are? Doesn't that mean that we are not mere reflections of our mistakes?

Watch this video!

Don't you feel kind of bad for the guy? Whenever I watch that video, I get pretty frustrated that he did that; nevertheless, it's a lesson to each and everyone of us that we are more than what we think we are. We have more potential that what we think we have.

In my opinion, the perks that were included with the cruise were probably somewhere where the man could have easily found it. Probably a brochure or a pamphlet, but the man was stubborn enough to ignore all the good things, because he may have thought that he knew better.

My father once told me that in Elementary school and if you are smart, you can get by easily, but once you are in middle school and high school, being smart doesn't mean much; especially in college. To be completely honest, I didn't quite believe him. I graduated Elementary school imagining I was running frivolously through daisy fields; however, in middle school, the tides turned.

 Algebra was quite harder than I thought, and it was even worse when I took the ACT! I seriously thought I was smarter than that, but I guess I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. Thus, I came to a particularly interesting conclusion. Typically, the measure of our success is not derived from our natural ability, yet, the measure of our success is derived from our work.

Our perception of our selves seems to be derived from the results of our work. If we flunked our math test, it may not necessarily mean that we are absolutely terrible at math. This actually sounds quite familiar, because I did it myself. These are the steps that I took in order to procure a good math score when I retook the test.

1. I set a goal.
"Okay, I can only get 90% on this test, because Mr. Jackson only gives up to 90% on retakes. I still want above a 95%."

2. I created a plan to achieve my goal.
"If I want above a 95%, what do I need to do?How much or how long do I have to study each day? How should I study? How much help from my teacher or from other other students do I need? how much time do I have?

3. I proceeded to start applying my plans into my study.
"Okay, when I get home, I need to study for 3 hours. I'm going to study section 1-2 and do every single problem in the book. I'm going to get a good score."

4. Achieve your goal.
"Woo hoo! I got 95%!"

I actually got what I wanted when I retook my Calculus exam. I guess the main thing I wanted to get across with this post is that mistakes do not define who we are. If we have made a mistake, learn from it, plan for the future, apply that plan in the most effective way, and then strive to succeed. I think this plan can be applied to all degrees of our life. Whether it is on a math test or whether we made a more societal mistake such as causing a 7 car pile up, we can create a plan. If we are diligent, eventually, we will succeed.

"Let Your Past Make You Better, Not Bitter."

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