On Perfection

"There is within each of us the capacity to remember our goodness."  Tara Brach

"Awakening Now" by Dana Folds

Why wait for your awakening?

Do you value your reasons for staying small 

more than the light shining through the open door? 

Forgive yourself,

Forgive yourself.

Now is the only time you have to be whole.

Now. 

Now is the sole moment that exists to live in the light of your true nature. 

Perfection is not a prerequisite for anything but pain. 

Perfection is not a prerequisite for anything but pain. 

Please, oh please, don't continue to believe 

in your stories of deficiency and failure. 

This is the day of your awakening.

Hmmm.  It's rather paradoxical that I like this quote and this poem so much.  I very strongly believe now that we all (or perhaps we all) are too hard on ourselves (and each other).  I think that everyone I know is wonderful just the way they are. Perfect? Maybe not. But who cares? I used to think I had to be perfect and feeling so kept me locked in a box where I couldn't open to even the people closest to me and also kept me from trying anything I didn't think I could do well immediately. Eventually, this thinking really stunted my life. Now, I'm more willing to fail and either shrug my shoulders and move on or even laugh at myself. It's a relief.

So, where's the paradox? Here: I also believe that we hold ourselves to pretty low standards. We believe that humans are intrinsically flawed. We limit what we even expect of ourselves. I don't think we're even close to harnessing our powers. 

Our bodies produce 100,000 chemical reactions in every cell of the body every second we're alive.  We have approximately 70 to 100 trillion cells in our body. You can do the math, I can't. These are the processes that control everything we do: respiration, digestion, etc., etc. Everything. The pancreas regenerates almost all of its cells every single day. The liver has 66 functions (facts taken from "Evolve Your Brain: the Science of Changing Your Mind" by Joe Dispenza, D.C.). These facts are amazing. They show the miraculous powers that each of us has. We don't have to think to do these things, yet they are done by the body's intelligence. Neuroscientists now know that the brain is continually reorganizing itself throughout life (this is a very different view of the brain that we baby boomers grew up with - when we went through school it was believed that the brain was mostly hardwired). All of our thoughts create chemical reactions.  All of those chemical reactions affect the body in some way. The brain does not even know the difference between an event happening in real time and event that is remembered or imagined. For example, if you remember a bad experience, your brain will create the same chemicals it did when the event actually occurred.

If we really harness our thoughts, I think we can affect how we think and live. Check out the yogis - some have been buried in boxes for days and have been able to survive by slowing down their bodily functions.  Joe Dispenza has studied many people who have had spontaneous healings. He's found certain similarities in what they did after being diagnosed: in a nutshell, they spent countless hours envisioning themselves healthy. Which is not to blame those who don't do this - it's hard, hard work and as yet scientifically unproven so it takes a great belief in oneself that goes against society to follow this path. However, Joe feels that since some people do, in fact, have healings that befuddle their doctors, something is going on with those people and it's worth studying the effect to figure it out so that more of us can do it.  And, if the mind can heal the body, the mind is also more amazing in other ways than we've given it credit for.

To sum up, we're fine the way we are.  And I think that we could be more if we choose to be so. But, on any path we choose, we should give ourselves a break, love ourselves, love each other, relax and enjoy. Remember your goodness. Don't wait.

With love.