Who me? You must be kidding!
I wake up every morning and go to bed every night counting up my imperfections, mistakes, regrets and grievances. How perfect is that?! And certainly nowhere near divine.
In fact, sometimes my attitude and thinking tend to lean more towards Perfectly Imperfect. I don’t have enough fingers on my hands to count up my character defects. I could go on and on about how I am exactly the opposite of divine and certainly one of the most imperfect people I know. You get the drift.
How about this?
Am I perfect?
NO.
But am I trying to be a better person.
Also NO.
My opinion is:
If Target had a bar,
my life would be perfect.
and finally,
I have
OCD & ADD
So everything has to be perfect…
But not for very long.
Now I do like myself more and more the older I get…but divine and perfect just don’t compute when I think of myself. Are you in the same boat? Never fear.
A divine being you are and perfect is an underestimation when you are viewed from a soul standpoint. (Am I the only one who looks at these things?) Please indulge me for a minute.
Whether you ever think about it or not; whether you believe it or not, we are all chock-a-block full of positive attributes, even if you don’t realize it.
Here are some of the qualities you might have developed
over the years:
Compassion
Courage
Determination
Endurance
Faith
Willingness to Forgive
Fortitude
Hopefulness
Generosity
Humility
Capable of Experiencing Joy
Loving
Creative
Nurturing ‘
Resilient
Strong
Understanding
Wise
Good Leadership Skills
Being a Good Friend
Being a Good Partner
Being a Good Parent, Child, Sibling, Grandparent, etc.
See…you’re not that bad after all. While we all tend to beat up on ourselves for the things that we’re not doing right or the imperfections we have, count up the qualities you exhibit on the list above. If it’s over ten, you’re halfway to sainthood and I can almost see the halo hovering over your head!
It’s been established that Westerners have a negativity bias and the “bad stuff” outweighs the good 3 to 1…and that counts for appreciation of the self as well.
Shannon Adler wrote:
“There is no perfection,
only beautiful versions of brokenness.”
Yohji Yamamoto wrote:
“I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the
things humans make, I want to see scars,
failure, disorder, distortion.”
How about this?
Everything about you is perfect – your lips, your skin,
your eyes, your body. Perfect! You are lucky to be born
beautiful, not like me, who was born to be a big liar.
I certainly understand the point of view that if someone or something is too perfect it almost seems “too Disney” or too airbrushed. A real diamond is never perfect, so why should a human being be…even among the best of us.
But the divine perfection I’m talking about here is more the way God sees us, rather than seeing it in ourselves or in others.
Michael J. Fox said:
“I am careful not to confuse excellence with
perfection. Excellence I can reach for;
perfection is God’s business.”
Marianne Williamson, when writing about releasing a negative self-concept, states this:
“I desire to think of myself as God thinks of me, and to know myself as he knows me. I was created, as everyone was, as divinely perfect. Though I don’t manifest my perfection on a consistent basis, my spirit, having been created by God,
is perfect, nonetheless.”
She goes on with this affirmation:
“I release any self-concept that fails to appreciate the beauty of God within me. A negative self-perception serves no one, for hiding my own light from my eyes also blinds me to the light in others. I choose to see the light and beauty in everyone, including me.”
A very memorable day in my life occurred when I was in the fourth grade. I had started having trouble seeing the chalk board at the front of the classroom, so my mother took me to the eye doctor and, horror of horrors, I was nearsighted and needed to wear glasses. Every nine-year old’s dream, I don’t think!
A week later I walked out of the optician’s office sporting what felt like goofy looking eyeglasses. Then the miracle occurred: I could see the leaves on the trees; I could see the street signs; I could even see what had been the blurry movie theater down the street and could read on the marquis what was playing.
I kind of liken this to our missing the fact or vision to know that we are divine and so is everyone else – we each have a little bit of the Universal Force in us or we wouldn’t be breathing or walking the earth. When the concept was first suggested to me that God is in me and also in everyone else, I went...Whoa, I can’t see that and don’t even want to think about it.
But then I read some of Ernest Holmes, the Founder of Science of Mind, and I could see something that had been
completely blurry to me before:
“We do not all have the same gifts because no two anythings are ever alike. Nature never reproduces anything identically…We are all engaged in different types and sorts of activities that express the unique individualization that each one of us is. But it is the same God working in all of us.
This is one of the most terrific concepts we could entertain, that out of all the variations of life, the infinite variety of color and form and people – the rosebud, the elephant, the snow-capped mountain, the tiny mouse in the field – one Power is working.
Back of our smallest act is the strength of the universe. Behind all our thoughts is the Infinite Thinker. Diffused through every human activity is the Divine Presence.”
I know that sounds rather lofty, but I truly believe in its veracity. At least I can go this far:
I’m not perfect.
But I’m a Limited Edition.
And, if all else fails I can still say:
I may not be perfect
but I’m
Irish
and that’s kind of the
same thing.
How about you?
