Perfection

When you feel down or depressed, understand your life is in a state of constant relativity; what you feel today is relative to yesterday, last year, and the best moments of your life. Should you compare yourself to such a standard, you may find you fall short every day of your life, except of course, the best day ever.

It’s a bit of a strange perspective to hold ourselves to a standard of our best day ever for determining life satisfaction, when we put it into these terms, right?! At least I think so…

Have you ever caught yourself wondering why you might be upset, angry, worried, or depressed when there are others in the world — like children who are emaciated to the extent they look like pretzels in Somalia, for example — who are suffering much more than you are? I’ve always wondered why we allow ourselves to perceive suffering, since suffering boils down to perception and perspective.

The human mind self-complicates.

If you are alone in a jungle with hungry tigers, you will feel happy until you recognize tigers want to eat you. Then, you may feel fear, adrenaline, and crazy amounts of energy to focus on an escape plan. If you are stuck in an office space and your boss isn’t being respectful, you may similarly self-complicate, thinking you’re not being treated right — taking on a victim mentality — and see a similar rise in your heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. Your body is preparing to defend itself in either scenario, subject to your perception of the severity of the situation.

So, next time you might be feeling angst, please understand it’s a matter of perspective, and perfection lies inside the choices you make; or how you choose to see the world.

Today’s thought exercise:

If perfection is a matter of perception, why would you think of yourself and your life as anything less than perfect?

Sent to you with love, honor, and in service,