You Can Be Better
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Nov 10, 2011
“When you know better you do better.†― Maya Angelou
I was watching the program Oprah's Life Stories last night, but not the live show she had on. Instead I watched an episode I had taped where she had brought back some former white supremacists that had been on her show in 1989 and had changed their beliefs and opinions over the years.
She led off the show talking about her relationship with Maya Angelou, someone she admired as a young girl and then got to meet because of the show, and how even as she saw her as a mentor she saw her as a friend. She talked about things that happened in her early life when she was a teenager and how she hated that part of her life, and how Angelou had said the phrase above to her as part of some counseling and mentoring.
You know, everyone has made some kind of mistake in their lives. Some mistakes are big, some not so big. I'm lucky in being able to say that I've never made any big mistakes in my life, but I could have easily gone another way. But there was always something in me that said I had a better purpose in life, and that it wasn't really only about me.
I've had some ups and downs and that's also to be expected. All of us get to have the opportunity to figure out what we want to do in our lives. I usually state two phrases over and over. The first is kind of based on the Nike phrase, although I really wasn't thinking of it when I started saying it: "Just do something." The second phrase I believe is purely mine, but if someone comes up with it elsewhere let me know, and if I've never heard of that source before then I'm still claiming credit for it: "Every day you have another chance to start again."
None of us have to be what we were or are if it's something we don't like. We all have the ability to change and get better and be better and have greater lives. And something amazing happens; when we get better we make those around us better and happier. No one grows without making others better, and no one grows fast without making others happy in some way either. It's all about keeping the faith in yourself and giving others the chance to have faith in you as well.
Keep The Faith; yup, we need a little Michael Jackson in our lives today.
Maybe its called growing up or learning. That’s what makes life great; we can make up for our mistakes in the past.
I didn’t had chance to watch it, long working day, nearly 18 hours. However this is a good point, actually I have done many major mistakes in my life and the time this happen I have feel a bit down, but a couple of years after that I have seen that it is much better and probably I have been lucky to do exactly this as most of the time life turns in better direction.
Yay Michael!
Good inspirational message Mitch.
I think it’s also a matter of perspective. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but they often have been measured differently by different people. Certain things I don’t consider that major, others may point to and say “This is why you are having the problems you are having now or had then or whatever”. What’s done is done. Maybe some things could have been done better. It’s a matter of what I do with what I’ve learned and hopefully I learned something.
Lee
Great stuff Lee and I like how you’ve looked at it. You’re absolutely right, it is always a matter of perspective, but even with that we look at things and almost always think we could have done better. Degrees I suppose. 😉