At Ninjutsu, my Sensei teaches the children to embrace failure. We ask them – often – “who loves to lose?!”
Joyfully, the children yell out “MEEEE!”
We then ask, “WHY do you love to lose?”
“Because it helps us to leaaarrrrnnn!!!” they emphatically reply.
Life is riddled with challenges – there are often far more “failures,” lost games, missed deadlines, rejections (etc!) than there are successes. But as a result, we learn SO much more – We grow and develop to have an astoundingly richer, more valuable experience in Life, and we learn that NOT winning is not only OKAY…but it is a POSITIVE.
In my mind (and heart) teaching this to children cannot be started early enough. Let them know that failures are going to happen – no one likes surprises! 😉
But ALSO let them know that it is okay, that their own value has not diminished in any way, and that because of that “loss” many good things will bloom in its place.
More of my Martial Arts… ❤
