The Perfection of Imperfection
By Joyce Anderson
www.Conversations with YourSelf.com
Perfection comes from embracing our imperfect life. How is this done? Gratitude…acknowledging that everything we have been through isperfectly designed for our learning. First we recognize that many of us are hung up on reaching for perfection in our physical life. Worst of all, if “it’s” not perfect, we may look at ourselves as some form of failure. In search of perfection we allow nothing in between, yet the “in between” is where the richness of lessons are that help us grow spiritually. It is the “in between” where we find our reasons for our unique life, and to discover our gifts that we are to bestow upon our world.
Let’s look at how we strive for perfection in an average day. We start our day with inner chatter that looks something like this:
- We dissect in the morning mirror what’s not “perfect”…
- What went wrong yesterday…
- Not enough time…
- Others to take care of…
- As we dress, we may say “I have nothing to wear” as we look at a closet full of clothes…
- We eat in our kitchen, gotta go on a diet, look at our home and what might be wrong with it or lacking…
- Leaving our home we notice what neighbors have and we have not…
- We go to work and might think our job is not “all it could be”, “it’s not me”, someone else has a better job, etc…
- Notice a family photo on a co-workers desk and think they have it all…
- Yah da, Yah da, Yah da…compare, compare, compare…What a garbage of thoughts…What negative thoughts we fuel our day with. No wonder there is no energy (fuel) left to even start your present day! Talk about dis-ease.
What is at the heart of all this is self-comparison? Not connecting to or energizing our spiritual life of self-magnificence. In the physical there is always something better and worse, a no win situation. We think if we make it perfect, we won’t be caught in that game. Comparison can be helpful, if we use if for positive learning, but not for the negative of tearing down or criticizing. I’ll never forget when I got a “C” on that first hard test at school where I was so grateful to have understood most of it, but quickly learned from the classroom that this grade was not “good” enough. Within a split second, I went from feeling grateful and smarter to feeling devastated and stupid. I chose to believe and energize what the outside world said (not good enough)… instead of what my inner higher self knew (learning more everyday in my own gifted way). The perfection of imperfection.
Another case in point, 16 years ago my husband and I bought our first house in Miami after years of saving. I was ecstatic choosing colors, decorating, planting, and tiling my kitchen wall. When the house was ready we had a party to “show off” our house. As people walked in I noticed some looks of “how could you live in such a cookie cutter small house?” As I thought of their homes, I thought “yes” it is small. The next day I awoke to the aroma of my new home, my favorite colors, and what gratitudeand joy I felt in my new bed. I quickly remembered the night before and I chose to jump into the world of comparisons, and I allowed my joy to leave. I could blame them for being shallow, but now I know they were teachers for me to learn what I was lacking, faith in myself. I am grateful.
The perfection of these two stories was the necessary ingredients to know myself, for developing my gifts as a compassionate group teacher and also decorator. Pick a comparison story from your library, and see what really energized you before you started comparing, what talents were you using, and hook into that feeling that brought you joy. What lesson were you learning about your magnificent self. What are your life episodes perfectly teaching you. Become aware! Don’t get stuck in perfectionism in the outside world, you are perfectly enough already. Find yourself.
We all have the choice of observing and then picking what thoughts we will energize. We can energize the physical world of comparison and envy, or we can step into our spiritual world of gratitude for our talents where the perfection of our growth lives. Now I energize in the joy I feel while creating a workshop and the growth of my compassion, and in my home where I use my natural gift of decorating, creating beauty, and making a buck go far. What are yours?
Every one of us is born with a talent and therefore a purpose whether we are to use it one- on-one or in large arena, both are equally helpful and important to our planet. Remember there is no comparison in the world of spirit, just love and creativity. We individually are to work on the integrity of our life, then discover and work our purpose. Our role modeling is how we heal our world. We must be tolerant of ourselves, if we want our world to be tolerant. Let go of labels and meet people heart-to-heart. Our individual lives are the roots to our world. The time has come to be self-leaders so we don’t have to complain about who is in “power”. This starts with acceptance of the diversity of us all which leads to our unity. Accept the beauty of theperfection of imperfection.
