Learning and growing

I have been reading the book "Lighten Up!" by Chieko Okazaki (I don't have it in front of me so I probably murdered the spelling on her name.). I love her perspective. It really reminds me of Sister Beck's talk about "doing better than you think". Sister Okazaki is so kind and loving in her views about what constitutes "perfect".

The chapter I just finished talks about ways to brighten our lives. The first principle she says is to stop being afraid of making mistakes. And that is where pictures of this little munchkin come in. She makes a lot of mistakes. She is learning. I don't expect her to do everything perfectly. She tries things over and over and eventually she gets better and better at them. So why do I expect different standards for myself? In this mortal existence- I am a toddler- I am here to learn. I am going to make mistakes. And that is fine. Too often I let the fear of making mistakes keep me from doing anything at all. And that is not fine.

Examples and opportunities to learn are all around us. I'm going to try to learn from this sweet daughter tonight.