J.K. Rowling recently gave an interview on Oprah and they showed an excerpt from her commencement speech at Harvard University in 2008. She spoke on the importance of failure. Here are a few lines, some paraphrased.
"Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. You stop pretending that you are anything than what you are..."
"Your greatest fear is realized and you are still alive..."
"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you lived so cautiously, that you might as well not have lived at all..."
I fail at many things.
being patient with loved ones
listening without judgment
true forgiveness
being humble
But the beauty of failing at these things is that I will hopefully continue to grow. I have noticed that I have started to check myself more (not in terms of using my mental filter between my mouth and my brain - that'll never happen...) but in terms of being more intentional about my words and the power that words wield. If failure means that I learn from my mistakes, bring it.
