Chestnut Bud for Repetitive Mistakes

Have you ever been on one of these merry go rounds?  You start out with one foot on the ground, one on the structure, and you get the thing spinning.  At some point it starts going fast enough that you take your foot off the ground and just hang on for dear life. The point about these kind of merry-go-rounds, unlike the carousels you find in amusement parks, is that this type is "self-propelled".  There is no "on/off" switch.  You decide when to put your foot down and speed it up or slow it down. Of course,  a lot depends on who is on there with you. The more people on the structure, the faster you can get it going.  It's a favorite for big bullies because they can get the thing going so fast you're dizzy, sick, scared, and not having fun anymore. But it takes a lot of courage to jump off.  Even when you aren't enjoying the ride in the least, it feels a little safer than having the courage to leap.

We don't always learn from past mistakes.  We keep going back to that merry-go-round and hopping on thinking the ride is going to be different.  More often than not, I think, we make collective mistakes.  We all get back on there and think we're going to have a different ride.

What spurned this thought for me, was watching some big business decisions, being covered in the media.  It seems sometimes businesses lately want to close down. Usually it seems they have been kind of "bled dry".  They aren't making money, it isn't making sense, their product isn't sustainable, the same way of doing business isn't working. They want to quit.  But it's hard to leap off.  The "thing" is going so fast that a lot of people might be hurt if they leap or are pushed, off. Hence  government (we) try to just load up the merry-go-round, as though by adding more people (or cash and incentives) we can make the ride better. It seems to me like putting another mistake on top of the first one and the next one, the next one and before you know it, the whole thing is spinning and no one knows how to put their foot down and get off.

On a personal level, if you find yourself making the same mistakes over and over again, the Bach Flower Chestnut Bud can be very helpful.  When you're in a Chestnut Bud state you feel like you aren't making progress in life. Sometimes this results in falling for the wrong type of partner over and over again. Or you stay in an abusive relationship thinking it going to change, but it doesn't. Or you stay in a job situation that just doesn't really work very well for you.  This type of emotional cycle can often lead to reoccurring physical issues like migraines or ulcers.  Sometimes the physical signs are easier to detect than the repetitive emotional mistakes.
Taking Chestnut Bud can help you see your mistakes the way other people do.  People that aren't on the merry-go-round can watch that thing going round and round and see that isn't looking like fun.  But once your in the spin, it's hard to identify that. Chestnut Bud can help you find that point of detachment or distance so you can see your life and the pattern of recurring events better.

There is nothing wrong with mistakes.  That's how we learn.  The trick is to use the mistakes as a learning tool applying the knowledge and ability gained from the mistake to make change happen. Albert Einstein said, "insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". If that "same thing" is in fact a bit of a mistake in the first place the results are never going to get better.

Sometimes we all need the objectivity that Chestnut Bud can bring.  We need to step back, take a look at what we have been doing and reassess. It's not about ignoring or denying the mistakes. It's not about finding blame or someone to punish. It's about seeing the mistake, finding the lesson and using that experience to create a new world or set of circumstances. Just because that's "always the way we've done it" doesn't make it right. In fact, that might be what is making it wrong.

The merry-go-round really only needs one person to put their food down.  That's enough to start slowing the thing and before you know it, it's safe to get off.  You really don't have to take a wild leap. You just have to put your foot down and apply some drag, some slowing down, that gives you the time to observe, to catch your breath and think. That's the power of Chestnut Bud.

  When you step off the merry-go-round you usually feel a bit wobbly.  You might be dizzy, and a bit disorientated. It's not always clear which way is up, or which direction you should help towards.  That's why it's best to sit for a moment. Breathe in, breathe out, look at the horizon, consider how you got to where you are, and use that information to move onward.  Maybe you can climb to new heights if you head for the monkey bars!