Counting the Omer: Day 47 — There’s No Growth Without Failure
By Yanir Dekel
Today is day 47 of the Omer count, where we look at the value of Hod B’Tokh Malchut – “humility within equanimity.”
The Jewish Middot calendar says: “Rise above events that are inconsequential — both bad and good — for they are not worth disturbing your equanimity.”
Today’s lesson is: Allow yourself to fail. And what an easy yet difficult lesson that is. Because we are always focused on success, always focused on the good stuff, and when we don’t get our way, we often end up being disappointed at ourselves and beat ourselves up.
When I fail in achieving a personal goal or feel that I’ve let someone down, or things didn’t go as expected, I try to remember that failing contributes to my growth, that there’s no growth without failure. I believe that we come into this world with a basic mission to expand ourselves, and we do it through contrast: overcoming failures and negatives that happen to us, and turning them into successes. That’s how we grow.
So today, take a minute to make peace with where you are in life. Even if you know that you failed, or you are not where you want to be in terms of love, or money, or looks, or whatever it is – allow yourself to just be where you are. Because making peace with where we are releasing resistance (mainly towards ourselves) eventually allows us to get where we want to be.
