{"id":4380,"date":"2013-03-20T08:33:03","date_gmt":"2013-03-20T12:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=4380"},"modified":"2013-03-20T09:43:32","modified_gmt":"2013-03-20T13:43:32","slug":"what-to-do-when-you-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=4380","title":{"rendered":"What to do when you fail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teacher: \u00a0I am looking for an exceptional student.<\/em><\/p>\n

Prospective Student: \u00a0What are the requirements for the position?<\/em><\/p>\n

Teacher: \u00a0Failures! \u00a0The student needs to have come through many failures.<\/em><\/p>\n

Prospective Student: \u00a0You\u2019ve found the right person! <\/em><\/p>\n

People are not necessarily forthcoming when it comes to discussing their failures, but there is so much to be learned if we properly analyze them. \u00a0Some of the most important lessons you will ever learn will come from the analysis of the failures you have had and the application of the lessons you have learned from them.<\/p>\n

Everyone will have an opportunity to fail at some point in life. \u00a0It is unpleasant, and for good reason. \u00a0Failures are the one of the Uni-verse\u2019s main methods of education. \u00a0When we fail, it is our time to re-assess our actions, our information and our desires. \u00a0We are being asked to learn something. \u00a0Every failure gives us an opportunity to learn humility, which is one of the greatest and perhaps most overlooked assets. \u00a0In today\u2019s world, who wants to be humble? \u00a0It\u2019s like a 4-letter word.\u00a0 And yet, humility simply means the ability to see clearly what we are and what we are not, where we begin and where we end. \u00a0It is a great thing to work on.<\/p>\n

The ego dislikes failing.\u00a0 The very idea of being humble makes the ego cringe. \u00a0Notice your ego when it flares up, thank it for sharing, and re-commit yourself to learning what you need to learn so you do not have to revisit the same failure more than once.<\/p>\n

How can we best learn from our failures? \u00a0Let\u2019s look at the \u201c3 Ds\u201d – Desire, Direction and Discipline. \u00a0These are what I call \u201cthe three necessities.\u201d \u00a0These are the required ingredients for success in any venture.<\/p>\n

The first ingredient we must have to succeed is desire. \u00a0Desire fuels our day-to-day journey and makes our work enjoyable even through the challenges. \u00a0If we lack the desire to do something, if it is not in alignment with our ultimate goals, we will most certainly fail. \u00a0Even if we get the thing we are working towards, it will be a vacuous attainment at best.\u00a0 We will have been pursuing something for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n

I have an amazing friend who pursued a financial career, and had great \u201csuccess\u201d with it until he was so miserable inside that he woke up to the reality that what he had pursued was out of alignment with his heart. \u00a0Due to his ability to analyze and correct his alignment, my friend was able to take this failure and turn it into many future successes.<\/p>\n

Now, if we have the desire, we will then need direction. \u00a0How do we get it done? \u00a0What do we need to know? \u00a0Who can help us?<\/p>\n

Perhaps you have set out down a path toward a goal that you did not know how to reach. You make mistakes. Occasionally you get lucky. \u00a0You get knocked down and you get back up. \u00a0With persistence, you may eventually reach your goal, but it is always best to seek direction from people who have been where you are trying to go.\u00a0 These are teachers, guides, mentors.\u00a0 They light the way.<\/p>\n

With desire and proper direction, you are well on your way to success. \u00a0Yet, without the ability to apply desire and direction in a strategic way, you may find your goals remain just out of reach. \u00a0This brings us to the third necessity, another four-letter word in our society known as discipline.<\/p>\n

Ironically, discipline is the precursor to joy. \u00a0When you sit down to learn the piano, you start by learning scales.\u00a0 It can be tedious, boring and frustrating. \u00a0You apply discipline, you keep showing up, and you develop skill. \u00a0Eventually, you sit down at the piano and your teacher says, \u201cNow, just play.\u201d\u00a0 You experience a profound joy and liberation in playing piano, but it required discipline first.<\/p>\n

Coming off a failure, we can feel a sense of desperation to jump right back in and make something work.\u00a0 We must be careful not to rush into the next thing until we have completed a period of assessment, adjustment, and sometimes grief-work if necessary. \u00a0In time, we will become naturally ready to receive the teaching that Universe has for us. With patience, we will be able to do the necessary work so that our failures will become catalysts for many future successes.\u00a0 Put another way, when you lose, don\u2019t lose the lesson!<\/p>\n

I wish this for you.<\/p>\n

Love, Peace and Light.<\/p>\n

\"Tommy
Tommy Rosen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tommy Rosen<\/p>\n

(Tommy Rosen is a yoga teacher and addiction recovery expert who has spent the last two decades immersed in recovery, yoga and wellness. Tommy is certified in both Hatha and Kundalini Yoga and Meditation. He is one of the pioneers in the burgeoning field of Yoga and Recovery, which utilizes yoga and meditation to help people overcome addictions and build fulfilling lives.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Tommy is the Co-Producer and Host of The Recovery 2.0: Beyond Addiction Online Conference, which features 35 talks with globally recognized experts offering diverse perspectives on addiction and is attended by tens of thousands of people from over 70 countries: \u00a0<\/em>R<\/span>ecovery2Point0.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 Tommy is also co-founder and producer of Tadasana: The International Festival of Yoga & Music, an annual multi-day festival in Southern California. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0As a respected expert, Rosen teaches and speaks regularly at yoga conferences and\u00a0festivals, including Wanderlust, Hanuman, Tadasana and many others. He also teaches annually at Esalen, Omega and Kripalu and runs yoga\/recovery workshops and retreats internationally. \u00a0Tommy\u2019s blogs and articles have appeared in The Daily Love, LA Yoga, Huffington Post, Elephant Journal, MindBodyGreen.com and Intent.com to name but a few. He is also a featured GAIAM TV yoga teacher.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Tommy\u2019s first book, “Recovery 2.0:\u00a0 Beyond Addiction,” will be out from Hay House in the Spring of 2014. The Recovery 2.0 DVD series is launching in the spring of 2013. \u00a0Tommy and his wife, noted yoga instructor Kia Miller, live in Venice, California where they teach yoga, and grow organic vegetables in their backyard.)<\/em><\/p>\n

(If you would like to contribute an article you have authored to the Guest Column, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to\u00a0Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>. Please label the topic: \u201cGuest Column.\u201d)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teacher: \u00a0I am looking for an exceptional student. Prospective Student: \u00a0What are the requirements for the position? Teacher: \u00a0Failures! \u00a0The student needs to have come through many failures. Prospective Student: \u00a0You\u2019ve found the right person! People are not necessarily forthcoming when it comes to discussing their failures, but there is so much to be learned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[185,1016,1017,1018,679,891,1019,1021,1020],"class_list":["post-4380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-column","tag-addiction","tag-desire","tag-direction","tag-discipline","tag-ego","tag-failure","tag-humility","tag-recovery-2-0","tag-tommy-rosen"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4380"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4397,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4380\/revisions\/4397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}