Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt – marvelous error! –
That I had a beehive
Here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
Were making white combs
And sweet honey
From my old failures.
- Antonio Machado, translated by Robert Bly

I hate making errors. Especially difficult is receiving negative feedback. It’s so hard to believe that everyone doesn’t love me, and love everything that I do. What can they be thinking? This was a really good week for me in the realm of receiving difficult feedback.
During my years of living at the San Francisco Zen Center the expression used for such occasions was, “it’s good for your practice.” Makes me think of a quote from a card I published at Brush Dance: My life is one learning experience after another. By the end of the week I should be a genius.”

And to think -- I teach the value of failure. In my workshops I often have everyone throw their arms in the air, and shout, “I failed”, with joy, with letting go. And yet, a little negative feedback can bring me down the rabbit hole of self-doubt and self-judgment.

Then, I read the poem Antonia Machado, Spanish poet, born in 1875. Though my own judge and critic remained, I could feel myself expand, widen, and lighten. My questions transformed from – How could I have done this? To – What can I learn from this feedback?

Enjoy! What can you learn from your “mistakes” and your “failures”?

Some things I learned from this poem:
- Don’t chase away failure; embrace it
- When receiving difficult feedback, expand and lighten
- Listen to my heart; let pain and difficult widen my heart