FAILURES, gratitude, day 15

As a recovering perfectionist, I must admit today's gratitude subject of failure is one that I don't assume to have mastered yet. But I do realize how important it is to embrace personal failures as stepping stones towards greater success in the future. My mistakes teach me how NOT to do things which, in many cases, impart a deeper lesson and act as better guides then all of my successes.
Take for example the invention of the light bulb by Edison. He had over 10,000 prototypes of the U.S. light bulb and over 1000 attempts before he achieved his goal. How easy would it have been to give up after 50 or even 100 or dare 1000 tries?!? But "Edison did not think that any of his failures were actually “failures.” Edison said “If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is just one more step forward....” Do you turn your “mistakes” into learning experiences? Adopt the same attitude as Edison did. Learn from mistakes. Be persistent."  http://www.dailynewarticles.com/ 
So when I feel myself starting to become deflated or depressed or sad because I fell short of  a goal I stop myself from hurling myself down that rabbit hole of wallowing and self-pity. I am learning to recognize the value in re-adjusting my perspective. I'm learning to see the gifts in my shortcomings and the valuable lessons they hold. A  silver lining is found where there are clouds and after the rain comes the rainb0w. Just think how much sweeter victory will taste after you have finally chased it down. It is the hard won races that we never forget and it is the rough journeys that make life an adventure.