THE FLOW OF LIFE’S PERFECTION

#1:  Let Go of Outward Perfection

     Perhaps you’ve seen the internet meme of a man on his hands and knees with a pair of scissors cutting a single blade of grass. The caption reads, “Perfection is the enemy of progress.”  We all see things about our lives that we would like to tweak, improve, add, or remove. Virtually no one would declare their life – or the world around them – to be perfect. Yet, to varying degrees, it bothers us when things aren’t exactly the way we want them to be. And like an unwelcome photobomb, life seems to elbow its way in front of our ideal picture… forcing us to constantly manage and adjust for life’s surprise circumstances. This process, when we learn to live with it, can be fun… like playing a game. But if we fall into the trap of not being able to relax and enjoy life until perfection “out there” happens, then we become obsessed and enslaved. When we are obsessed with perfection, it feels like we’re running to a destination; but in reality, that kind of running puts us on a treadmill that ultimately gets us nowhere. We should work, however, and work hard to improve our lives – as well as the world. But at the same time, it helps to embrace the truth that things are not supposed to match our limited idea of perfection all the time. Only then will we achieve progress.

#2:  Embrace Inward Perfection

     If you’ve ever seen raw diamonds, then you know that they’re not very pretty. To the untrained eye, they look like hunks of uneven, unclear, broken glass. But as soon as you start to cut and polish a diamond in the rough, its beauty becomes breathtaking. This is a very fitting metaphor for everyone on the planet. Yes, some people are more “in the rough” than others. Despite that – just like raw diamonds – there is inherent perfection in all of us… right here… right now… as we are. That perfection, though, can only be seen through an unfolding journey of experience. Sometimes, though, that journey and those experiences appear far from perfect to us because they can be unpleasant. But it’s through those unpleasant experiences that our roughness is cut away to reveal the sparkling kindness and love we all have within. Who you are and how you behave on any given day is a snapshot in time only; it’s a single frame of your much larger story. Embrace the truth that deep down, you are perfect. Remind yourself that you are inherently good, and that every rough experience you have gives you an opportunity to choose higher and to cut away at your own exterior roughness… a roughness that hides something truly spectacular within.

#3:  Flow with Life’s Perfection

     Here’s a paradox for you:  perfection is something that’s ever-present AND ever-changing. For example, if you are someone who really enjoyed high school, you look back and smile at how wonderful it was… maybe even perfect at times. But 30 years later, if you tried to recreate your high school life, it wouldn’t work out so well. Perfection will not stay frozen in time. It’s a moving target, and it serves us to flow along with it. To do that, we have to let go of one perfect moment - or time - to welcome the next one. Attachment to the past clouds our view of the perfection that is evolving all around us. That ever-present perfection can be hard to spot. And sometimes we can’t see it until time allows us to look back and appreciate it. In the meantime, even if you don’t yet understand them, try to honor the present and be grateful for the past. They will eventually make sense to you. But through it all, have a little faith that an ever-brighter future is always patiently waiting for you to let go of the past… and to flow with life’s perfection.

 

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