I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.
Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
photo Barney Moss
Some days or weeks we work with limited vision. The true meaning is hidden. We rely on inner values and on the commitment we have made.
Bringing in a full harvest from human effort has always been difficult, because what is worth bringing in is almost always hidden from us: think of the hard, protected kernel of the wheat amidst a waving sea of gold, or the the walnut nestled in its dense, unyielding skin of green and white, think of how common a much-wanted, simple understanding is needed, hidden by our complex thoughts; or the attempt to fully forgive when even forgiving a little seems to be the last thing we want to do; and lastly, the wish to love and to be loved, when loving is what we are most afraid to do.
David Whyte, Letters from the House
With no mind, flowers lure the butterfly;
With no mind, the butterfly visits the blossoms.
Yet when flowers bloom, the butterfly comes;
When the butterfly comes, the flowers bloom.
Ryokan, 1758 – 1831, Buddhist monk, hermit and poet.
We can sometimes feel fragmented in our inner life, sucked into a crisis, pulled in all directions, but…
There is not a “fragment” in all nature,
for every relative fragment of one thing
is a full harmonious unit in itself.
John Muir, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf
There is great psychological wisdom in the ancient texts as to how to deal with the strong emotions stirred up by challenges we face every day. Being able to see, without making it a story about ourselves:
You shouldn’t chase after the past, and don’t place expectations on the future.
The past no longer is. The future has not yet come.
Whatever is present in life as it is in the very here and now
you clearly see, right there, right there.
Not taken in. You dwell in stability and freedom
That’s how you develop the heart.
The Buddha, Bhaddekaratta Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya No.131.
We do not have to have everything sorted out in our lives for them to be complete and us to be happy.
A lot of disappointed people have been left
standing on the street corner
waiting for the bus marked Perfection
Donald Kennedy
photo kai hendry
