You went the wrong way?
GOOD. You recognized it.
Now comes one of life’s greatest gifts:
TURN AROUND.
The wrong turn doesn’t have to become the rest of your journey.
Who hasn’t gone south, made a wrong turn, went left and never came back for a while?
All of us have gone astray in one way or another.
Maybe we knew better.
Maybe we didn’t.
Maybe pride kept us going.
Maybe we became comfortable with something we once knew was wrong.
But once we KNOW, another opportunity presents itself:
COME BACK.
I don’t care what you have done or why.
Pick yourself up.
Dust yourself off.
Learn what the experience came to teach you.
And begin anew.
THIS SYSTEM WAS GIFTED TO US
What an extraordinary gift it is that mankind is allowed to change.
Think about that.
We are not permanently sentenced to remain the person we were yesterday.
We can recognize.
Regret.
Correct.
Repair.
And begin again.
Let not pride, ego or false beliefs interfere with this magnificent opportunity.
Sometimes the hardest words a person will ever say are:
I WAS WRONG.
Yet those three words can become the doorway into an entirely different life.
SCROOGE ALMOST MISSED IT
In the well-told tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, we see a man who had slowly traveled farther and farther away from his better nature.
Not in one giant leap.
Little by little.
Choice by choice.
Year by year.
He became comfortable inside something that was slowly robbing him of what he might have been.
Then came the awakening.
Scrooge was shown himself.
That is important.
Because before we can change direction, we have to SEE the direction we are traveling.
Once Scrooge realized what had happened to him, he didn’t spend the rest of his life merely talking about changing.
HE CHANGED.
And that is the Pearl.
STOP…AND THEN START
There are two parts to correcting a wrong.
First:
STOP.
Stop the behavior you know is questionable.
Stop defending it.
Stop feeding it.
Stop explaining it away.
Stop blaming somebody else.
Look at it long enough and honestly enough to recognize:
This is no longer serving me. It is using me.
Then comes the second part:
START.
Start traveling differently.
Start repairing what can be repaired.
Start practicing what you should have practiced before.
Start becoming the person your conscience has been calling you back toward.
THE CONSCIENCE WAS THERE ALL ALONG
One of the greatest gifts we carry requires no batteries, instructions or monthly subscription.
The conscience.
It doesn’t usually scream.
It nudges.
It bothers.
It interrupts.
It quietly refuses to allow us complete peace when we know something isn’t right.
MMMMM?
Maybe being bothered isn’t always a bad thing.
Perhaps sometimes being bothered is evidence that something good inside us is still very much alive.
DON’T TURN GUILT INTO YOUR HOME
There is a purpose for realizing we have done wrong.
But there is no wisdom in building a permanent house there.
If you burned your hand on a stove, the pain teaches:
DON’T DO THAT AGAIN.
The purpose of the pain wasn’t to make you spend the rest of your life staring at the stove.
Learn.
Correct.
Move forward.
Likewise, once wrongdoing has been honestly recognized, the lesson is not:
YOU ARE FOREVER YOUR MISTAKE.
The lesson is:
NOW YOU KNOW BETTER. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH WHAT YOU KNOW?
THERE GO YOU…REMEMBER?
Something interesting happens after you have genuinely corrected part of your own life.
You begin recognizing people standing where you once stood.
You know the excuses.
You recognize the confusion.
You recognize the stubbornness.
Maybe even the fear.
Why?
Because…
THERE GO YOU.
That should produce humility before judgment.
If appropriate, perhaps offer a word.
Not from a mountaintop.
Not with superiority.
But from experience:
“I’ve been down that road. It doesn’t go where you think it does.”
Sometimes one honest sentence from somebody who has BEEN THERE can accomplish more than a hundred lectures.
RIGHT-DOING DOESN’T NEED TO BE COMPLICATED
Once you stop doing what you know is wrong, something rather beautiful happens.
You enter the territory of right-doing.
And there is no ceiling there.
Tell the truth.
Keep your word.
Help somebody.
Pay what you owe.
Apologize when appropriate.
Return what isn’t yours.
Be fair.
Show mercy.
Practice humility.
Do the decent thing when nobody is watching.
And when you fail?
Recognize.
Correct.
Continue.
This isn’t complicated theology.
It is living.
CHARACTER IS BUILT DURING THE TURN
We often admire people who never appear to fall.
But I have learned to appreciate something else:
THE PERSON WHO TURNS AROUND.
There is character in admitting error.
There is courage in correction.
There is humility in apology.
There is strength in abandoning something that once controlled you.
Sometimes your finest hour isn’t when you were standing tall.
It is the moment you realized you had fallen…
and decided to get up.
THE RIGHT WAY
The minute you sincerely stop wrong-doing, you have already taken your first step toward right-doing.
From there…
GO!
There is no ceiling on doing the right thing.
And its rewards aren’t always money, recognition or applause.
The true coin of this realm is deeper:
Peace.
Rest.
A clear conscience.
Self-respect.
Trust.
Character.
And that wonderful inner knowing that although you once traveled the wrong road…
YOU DON’T TRAVEL IT ANYMORE.
FINAL THOUGHT
Don’t let yesterday demand ownership of tomorrow.
If you know something is wrong…
STOP.
If something needs correcting…
CORRECT IT.
If someone deserves an apology…
GIVE IT.
If you fell…
GET UP.
If you wandered…
COME BACK.
And once you have turned around, don’t spend the rest of your journey staring behind you.
There is still road ahead.
TRAVEL IT WELL.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
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