Lessons Learned from...Not learning a lesson the first time

Anne Shirley has a saying that my dad loves: "never make the same mistake twice". If I could abide by this mantra, I would consider myself successful indeed. But despite constant attention and best intentions, I often find myself replicating a mistake over and over. Granted, I may learn something new each time, but at a certain point I just want to learn the damn lesson and close the case. Life doesn't seem to work like that. Perhaps some lessons are harder to learn; perhaps we spend our whole lives learning them.

I am a morning person: I see mornings as an opportunity to start over. The mistakes of yesterday no longer hold as much consequence; hopefully we have been able to transform them into lessons for today. With each setting and rising of the sun we get a chance to begin anew - yesterday's mistakes made, yesterday's lessons learned.

Ultimately, I believe it is about respect and love.
Respecting and loving the many gifts from above: gifts of people (relationships), gifts of experiences, gifts of the physical world. Enjoyment of these blessings can so easily spill from joyful abundance to over consumption. Proper respect and love can safeguard against this spillage.
Respecting yourself enough to give yourself the tools and will power to succeed, but also loving yourself when you don't succeed - and allowing yourself the opportunity for a second (or third, or forth, or fifth) chance.