by Karen Williams

Created on: December 31, 2009

It's surely part of the "human condition" that we sometimes mess up with regard to our relationships. We say or do something that we later regret, or we overlook doing something that perhaps we promised to do. We forget a birthday, an important occasion, or fail to follow through on a commitment. Maybe we say something in anger or even jest that we later wish we could take back.

Unless we're living a solitary existence in a cave, interacting only with the stalactites and stalagmites, we will probably offend the heck out of someone at some point in time. 

What most people do when they realize their sin of omission or commission, so to speak, is try to remedy the situation by taking immediate action. The problem with this approach is that they're taking action from a place of feeling guilty, regretful, or perhaps embarrassed. And you don't have to hang around Abraham-Hicks long to know that it's all-important to "clean up our vibration" first. That is, find a better feeling about the mistake FIRST before trying to remedy things. Then, taking action from a better-feeling place will likely gain the desired results — the offended person feeling soothed and forgiving and the error being minimized.

So, if/when we realize we made a mistake that is impacting someone, we could choose these kinds of thoughts:

—I messed up, but there's no sense in berating myself about it. It's human to make mistakes. Everyone does it at times.

—I'm glad I have this person in my life, even though he/she may be upset with me right now. 

—I'll do what I can to make amends. 

—I hope that what I do to repair the relationship will be adequate, but I don't have ultimate control over whether my gestures are accepted. All I can do is offer them in a good spirit. 

—I believe that it's possible and likely that this relationship will become enjoyable for us both again.

—I think it's possible that this relationship will become even more meaningful to us both as a result of the rockets of desire we've launched during this foul-up.

—It feels so good to know I don't have to be perfect to maintain good relationships. All I need to do is keep my focus on what I want and use problems and mistakes as springboards to focus ever more clearly on how I want my interactions to go. Then, via Law of Attraction, I'll welcome ever more meaningful and enjoyable — though sometimes imperfect — encounters into my experience.   

Needless to say, humor can come in handy in situations like this. Once, when working for a mortgage company, I had a friend who discovered she'd made a significant mistake on a document she'd sent to a customer. We brainstormed ways to break the news to her boss, and she ultimately told him, "They say that to err is human and to forgive is divine. So I'd like to hereby give you a chance to become divine." It broke the tension, even causing the boss to laugh as she spilled the beans about her error.

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