One of the first things I learned in science was the principle of significant figures, which refers to the digits in a number that are relevant, that matter. Letās say, for example, that I use my own feet to discover that two trees are 16.5 feet apart. But then an engineer determines with a laser device that the distance is really 16.5134184 feet. Even though the latter number is more accurate, the last six digits are really insignificantāunimportant or irrelevantāsince I only want to know whether to use my 25-foot or my 50-foot rope to string between the trees. The last six digits just donāt matter.
What does this have to do with real life? Who we are is an enormous sum of our giftsāgenetic and divineāand our lifetime of choices and outside influences. Just for fun, letās express this sum as a number, say 14, 968,452 units of āus.ā There really isnāt a significant difference between that number and 15,000,000 unitsāonly 0.21%, in factāso really there are only two significant figuresā15 (million)āthat describe the overall mass of who we are.
Now letās suppose you make a mistake. You make a choice that is side-splitting, lip-biting, mind-numbing stupid. Thatās one mistakeāone unitāfactored into 14,968,452 units of who you really are. Does that significantly change the number 15 million? No, the mistake is simply a tiny expression of your fearsāan insignificant figure.
Our mistakes are like tiny thorns projecting from a beautiful, living whole. We must see their relative significance, or we will over-estimate the meaning of our mistakes and thereby minimize our appreciation of who we really are.
Replace your anger & confusion with peace and happiness.
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