Personal Growth Planet Blog

Let’s face it. Judgments of any kind have the potential to quickly turn ugly.

Most of us were raised to believe that certain behaviors, actions, ways of living and even people are good while others are bad. The stuff of morals and ethics is based on a clear differentiation between good and bad.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this.

Each one of us makes judgments all of the time. These are the day-to-day decisions about what we prefer and what we don’t prefer. It’s natural, normal and part of the business of being an expansive human being that leads us to know what is and is not okay for each person.

To be called “selfish,” is rarely a compliment.

In the dictionary, the word is defined as: self-serving, self-interested, stingy, egotistical and more. None of these descriptions have any morsel of positive connotation either.

I grew up an only child and I totally cringe when I hear another person drag out that tired stereotype of the spoiled and selfish only child.

But, what if being selfish wasn’t such a detestable and shame-worthy thing after all?

What if being selfish was actually just the way that we all are– when we really admit it? And what if owning our own selfish-nesses helped make this world a better place?

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”- Albert Einstein

No matter how many wise and witty quotes I read about the value– even the necessity– of making mistakes in life, it’s still uncomfortable and sometimes painful for me when they happen.

There have got to be very few people in this world who actually enjoy making mistakes.

Even the most laid-back, easy-going souls among us probably cringe when they say the “wrong” thing, drop a plate full of food on someone’s white carpeting, forget an important deadline or some other blunder among the millions of possible blunders a person could make.