Spiritual Theme – Success & Failure
By Chalice Circle Facilitators

Our Monthly Spiritual Themes guide our Chalice Circles, which are small, intentional groups of members and friends that gather for spiritual enrichment through personal sharing. For more information on Chalice Circles, please email Linda Benson at chalicecircles@uuprinceton.org. Our Chalice Circle thoughts and questions around the theme of Success & Failure this month are:

“Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.” ⎯ William Saroyan
Have you had an experience of failure that brought you wisdom?

“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuses.” ⎯ Florence Nightingale Are excuses the opposite of responsibility?
When you have been willing to take responsibility for your actions, what happened? Do you consider the outcome success or failure?

“The real test is not whether you avoid this failure because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into action, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere. “ ⎯ Barack Obama
Is your understanding of failure one of shame? Have you/how have you overcome this?

“Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.” ⎯ Amanda Gorman
When have you felt that something was broken, and you fixed it? Did it stay fixed?