“Perfect” pictures are not the only illusions of perfection that appear on social media with regularity. Perfection may happen in a moment, but it will not last because it is an impermanent state. Trying to hold on to perfection or forcing it to happen causes frustration and unhappiness.
Remember that one of our goals in life is to not be perfect. We often lose track of this aspiration. When we make mistakes, we think that we are failing or not measuring up. But if life is about experimenting, experiencing, and learning, then to be imperfect is a prerequisite. Life becomes much more interesting once we let go of our quest for perfection and aspire for imperfection instead.
Letting go of our belief in perfection also makes us more forgiving. We stop expecting people to have perfect manners or be perfectly kind. Perfection may happen in a moment, but it will not last because it is an impermanent state. Trying to hold on to perfection or forcing it to happen causes frustration and unhappiness. We stop panicking about our imperfections because we remember that no one else is perfect.
This doesn't mean that we don't strive to be our best. We simply accept that there is no such thing as perfection -- especially in life. All living things are in a ceaseless state of movement. Sometimes, perfectionism is a holdover from our childhood -- an ideal we inherited from a demanding parent. We are adults now, and we can choose to let go of the need to perform for someone else's approval.
Once we accept that perfection is unreachable our stress levels decrease considerably. We no longer look in the mirror and long for the perfect skin we saw in a magazine. We stop wondering why our marriage is not perfect. We stop wasting our time and energy chasing after an impossible ideal. We stop being disappointed when we fail to reach perfection. We stop stressing over how far we are from our perfect job or how long it will take for us to achieve our perfect appearance.
Similarly, we can choose to experience the universe as a loving place where we are free to be imperfect. Once we realize this, we can begin to take ourselves less seriously and have more fun. Imperfection is inherent to being human.
Comments