Let go of your mistakes and move on. Don’t let a temporary setback become a permanent defeat; don’t allow your mistakes to imprison you. In some parts of India the locals have a technique for catching monkeys, which they then sell in the market place. The technique is very simply and it works like this: First of all, they put some tempting tit-bits of food, maybe some fruit and nuts, into a heavy glass bottle which has a narrow mouth. They then secure the bottle to the ground or to the base of a tree, sprinkle a few more tit-bits around it, and leave it alone for a while. The monkey comes along, puts his hand through the narrow mouth of the bottle and grabs a fistful of goodies. – This is the monkey’s mistake! – You see, the monkey can’t get its clenched fist back out of the bottle, and it doesn’t have the sense to simply let go of its treasure! It becomes trapped in a blunder of its own doing. – Don’t follow suit. Don’t become trapped in a blunder of your own doing; don’t allow non-success to become permanent failure; don’t allow non-success to imprison you. Instead, acknowledge your mistakes, then let go of them and move on.

R. Ian Seymour

R. Ian Seymour, excerpt adapted from Discover Your True Potential