Do you hold an image of perfection that you run from or punish yourself for not attaining? Do you give up? Which emotions are underneath all of this? When do they arise?
Find an image that inspires you and that you can use as a touchstone to remind yourself to notice, breathe, and get in touch with the thoughts and emotions that perpetuate this story of unattainable perfection. And let it go.
– paraphrased from Kissing The Limitless.
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I’ve been wracking my brain, and I can’t find any trace of images of perfection that cause me to retreat or that I punish myself for. Sure, sometimes, I say “I should have…” or “If only I’d…”. These are points for reflection though, I don’t punish myself for mistakes made. Mistakes are part of the fabric of life, they give it substance and strength.
Running away from ideas, or punishing yourself, derives from fear, and I can be quite fearless. Sometimes my fearlessness looks like arrogance. Sometimes I can be so arrogant that I dismiss a notion before I’ve given myself a chance to think it over, or I put everything in place to make something happen without thinking of the repercussions. Over the past year or so I have learned to pause. When I have paused and not acted, let an idea lie fallow for a while, the results have been stunning.
Whenever I have wanted to achieve something I have achieved it, if I have wanted it enough. However, I don’t believe that as individuals we have unlimited potential. We all have limits whether they be physical, intellectual, financial, or environmental. I do believe in possibilities though. I believe in following a crack in the wall and picking at it to see if some more light can come through.
Some things take time. You take small steps every day towards your goals. Milo of Croton wanted to be strong enough to lift a cow, so he started with a newborn calf. Every day he lifted the calf until it had grown to be a cow. Persistence, determination, and patience are required.
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toward the one the perfection of love, harmony and beauty the only being united with all the illuminated souls who formed the embodiment of the master the spirit of guidance (Sufi mantra)
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There is no perfection here, just lots of possibilities.
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under the tea tree 
January 21, 2014 at 4:26 pm
Great post!
January 22, 2014 at 8:01 am
Thank you for visiting and commenting awindowofwisdom.
January 22, 2014 at 3:23 am
The Archangels of the four directions are great to work with….very grounding, yet inspiring
January 22, 2014 at 8:01 am
I find that thinking about the Archangels is very uplifting, it gives me a wonderful energy that I don’t get from any other image.
January 22, 2014 at 4:57 am
The Uriel concept could do with a less vague definition, though?
January 22, 2014 at 7:34 am
You must be psychic Colonialist. I was going to expand on Uriel, but there was no coherence in the writing so I left the words out.
All of my years of churning out uni assignments has left my brain quite bereft of the skill of forming written coherent sentences. I have always struggled with writing, it takes a long time for me to write anything, but I see the value in it because it is a wonderful tool for reflection. I am astounded at how people can write books – that would be torture for me.
All of my Indigenous colleagues say the same thing – they struggle with writing and reading. If I want to tell them something important I never send them an email, I ring them up. Aboriginal culture has always been oral and aural – interpersonal.
My skills are more in speaking, I do a lot of group work, and am very comfortable stringing ideas together verbally. Speaking is dynamic, writing is methodical. I write a fair bit for work for newspapers, journals, and blogs, and because it is not something that comes naturally it takes so much energy from me. Here in this space I am a bit lackadaisical.
I quite often go back and expand on and edit posts when I find some more words to say. I added some more stuff to the “defining my Aboriginality” post yesterday, and it feels more complete, for the moment.
None of that may make any sense at all, and it is a rather wordy response to your simple question.
January 22, 2014 at 7:58 am
It does make a lot of sense – and you certainly manage the methodology of writing extremely well for one who regards it as a mission! I find it difficult to be a dynamic speaker, but much prefer my novel-writing! For me, that flows.
January 31, 2014 at 3:45 am
you might be surprised at what will happen. you may have heard some of these old sayings;
all things happening in there own time; it is just a matter of time; the Earth wasn’t created in a day; and my favorite is…all things come to he who waits.
enjoy life daily, Eddie