{"id":8779,"date":"2014-06-27T18:21:22","date_gmt":"2014-06-27T22:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=8779"},"modified":"2014-06-27T18:31:25","modified_gmt":"2014-06-27T22:31:25","slug":"mistakes-that-arent-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html","title":{"rendered":"mistakes that aren&#8217;t bad"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_8780\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8780\" style=\"width: 215px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/239\/2014\/06\/oops.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8780\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/239\/2014\/06\/oops.jpg\" alt=\"via google\" width=\"215\" height=\"123\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8780\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">via google<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Making reservations for hotels while we&#8217;re on vacation, I couldn&#8217;t get the online form to &#8216;submit.&#8217; Literally. Try after try, it said I wasn&#8217;t finished.\u00a0 <em>Yes I am!<\/em> I thought. <em>Dumb computer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But you know what? I&#8217;d messed up, and the form was right. I did NOT want to send it in w\/ 2 rooms for 1 adult, instead of 1 room for the two of us.<\/p>\n<p>Whether it was dumb luck or divine providence, it made me stop and wonder: how often have what seemed to be mistakes &#8212; even minor catastrophes &#8212; turned out to be that old <em>blessing in disguise<\/em>? And how often do I wail for no reason &#8212; even refusing to see the good that can come from a &#8216;mistake.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s like the story Nobel laureate <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/literature\/laureates\/1978\/singer-bio.html\" target=\"_blank\">Isaac Bashevis Singer<\/a> told, of a man whose only cow is taken. When an onlooker complains to an angel he&#8217;s accompanying (you need to find the story!), the angel replies: <em>We were scheduled to take the wife, but he&#8217;s such a good man, we took the cow instead<\/em>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8784\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8784\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/files\/2014\/06\/blessing-in-disguise.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8784\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/239\/2014\/06\/blessing-in-disguise-300x118.jpg\" alt=\"via google\" width=\"300\" height=\"118\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8784\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">via google<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That&#8217;s not really a mistake, I know. But it&#8217;s the same point, at least to me. &#8216;Bad&#8217; things may actually have good consequences.<\/p>\n<p>All day today, when I stubbed my toe, or had a headache from my eye exam (I sooo hate having my eyes dilated!), or found the shirt I wanted clean for the trip in a messy heap, I thought about this. And you know what?<\/p>\n<p>My day seemed measurably more pleasant. There may well have been angels watching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making reservations for hotels while we&#8217;re on vacation, I couldn&#8217;t get the online form to &#8216;submit.&#8217; Literally. Try after try, it said I wasn&#8217;t finished.\u00a0 Yes I am! I thought. Dumb computer But you know what? I&#8217;d messed up, and the form was right. I did NOT want to send it in w\/ 2 rooms&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,1308,832,831],"class_list":["post-8779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-living-in-the-moment","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-everyday-living","tag-isaac-bashevis-singer","tag-mistakes"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>mistakes that aren&#039;t bad - Beginner&#039;s Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Making reservations for hotels while we&#039;re on vacation, I couldn&#039;t get the online form to &#039;submit.&#039; Literally. Try after try, it said I wasn&#039;t finished.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"mistakes that aren&#039;t bad - Beginner&#039;s Heart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Making reservations for hotels while we&#039;re on vacation, I couldn&#039;t get the online form to &#039;submit.&#039; Literally. Try after try, it said I wasn&#039;t finished.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beginner&#039;s Heart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-27T22:21:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-27T22:31:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/files\/2014\/06\/oops.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Britton Gildersleeve\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"mistakes that aren't bad - Beginner&#039;s Heart","description":"Making reservations for hotels while we're on vacation, I couldn't get the online form to 'submit.' Literally. Try after try, it said I wasn't finished.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"mistakes that aren't bad - Beginner&#039;s Heart","og_description":"Making reservations for hotels while we're on vacation, I couldn't get the online form to 'submit.' Literally. Try after try, it said I wasn't finished.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html","og_site_name":"Beginner&#039;s Heart","article_published_time":"2014-06-27T22:21:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-06-27T22:31:25+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/files\/2014\/06\/oops.jpg"}],"author":"Britton Gildersleeve","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html","name":"mistakes that aren't bad - Beginner&#039;s Heart","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/files\/2014\/06\/oops.jpg","datePublished":"2014-06-27T22:21:22+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-27T22:31:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/#\/schema\/person\/b4348bfbe2223c0ec325db830aa95f52"},"description":"Making reservations for hotels while we're on vacation, I couldn't get the online form to 'submit.' Literally. Try after try, it said I wasn't finished.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/files\/2014\/06\/oops.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/files\/2014\/06\/oops.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/06\/mistakes-that-arent-bad.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"mistakes that aren&#8217;t bad"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/","name":"Beginner&#039;s Heart","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Britton Gildersleeve","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/#\/schema\/person\/b4348bfbe2223c0ec325db830aa95f52","name":"Britton Gildersleeve","description":"Britton Gildersleeve is a 'third culture kid.' Years spent living on the margins - in places with exotic names and food shortages - have left her with a visceral response to folks \u2018without,\u2019 as well as a desire to live her Buddhism in an engaged fashion. She\u2019s a writer and a teacher, the former director of a federal non-profit for teachers who write. She believes that if we talk to each other, we can learn to love each other (but she's still learning how). And she believes in tea. She is (still) working on her beginner's heart ~","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/author\/brittongildersleeve"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/398"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8779"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8785,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions\/8785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}