Here's the best way to approach mistakes

Irish novelist James Joyce once said, "Mistakes are portals of discovery." And if you stop and think about it, he was absolutely right.

We wouldn't have learned some of our most valuable life lessons had we not messed up in the past. Those missteps actually enabled us to grow and acquire wisdom we can in turn pass on to our kids, friends, and other loved ones.

Sure, we might be ashamed of our mistakes and wish we could have a few do-overs.

But one important thing to remember is that no one is perfect. We all make them and have to deal with the consequences thereafter.

Harping on our mistakes isn't healthy.  At some point, we must recognize -- and accept -- that the past is behind us, and there's nothing we can do to change it.

Rather than carry our mistakes around with us, we should place them under our feet and use them as stepping stones to bettering ourselves.

Whether we got into a car accident while driving around tipsy, took a wonderful partner for granted, made a big purchase without doing the proper research, frittered away all our savings in Las Vegas, or said a few things to a friend that we wish we could take back, all we can do is learn from our mistakes so that we're not doomed to repeat them.

We make mistakes; mistakes don't make us. What truly defines us, really, is how we respond after making such blunders.

We can either (1) sit around and sulk, (2) repeat the mistake despite vowing not to, or (3) parlay the experience into a new, improved you.

We never stop making mistakes entirely as we progress through our lives. But if we find ourselves making the same mistake repeatedly, it signals a poor job on our part to get to the root of the problem -- whatever that may be -- and solve it once and for all.

Indeed, as Paulo Coelho put it so cogently, "A mistake repeated more than once is a decision."

The next time you make a mistake, don't resolve to putting yourself down. Show some compassion toward yourself and aim to do better next time. All it takes is believing in yourself and thinking through your decisions more carefully.

Mistakes have the power to turn you into a better person than you were before. Leverage that experience to your advantage. Try to see them as catalysts for growth rather than faults or blemishes.

Think positively and you'll emerge stronger and wiser!