Even the most enlightened of us make mistakes. We all make mistakes…
In a sense, it’s not about what we do wrong as much as what we do next. (After she lost her temper and slapped her daughter) my friend first comforted her child by getting a cool cloth. Then she asked herself what could she have done differently, what old reactive patterns were triggered by her daughter’s behavior that resulted in the incident? Next, she apologized to her daughter without blaming or attacking her, and devised a plan to handle similar situations in the future. No matter how much mindfulness we try and bring to our mothering, we will falter. There’s no way around it, we all make mistakes. But during those moments when you are convinced that no one makes mistakes as frequently or enormously as you, let the mantra remind you you’re not alone.