Daily Gratitude: I don’t know about you but I have had a problem with perfectionism – well, it was a well disguised coverup for fear (which is the basis for most perfectionism). If I never completed anything, then I couldn’t be criticized because there was never a finished product for people to judge. So. If you’re looking to try to overcome that trait, take some time to contemplate this. Bill Beswick offers this: “mastery, where there is intense desire to achieve while avoiding the frustration of non-perfection. Mastery accepts that the performance might well include mistakes and setbacks but prides itself on continually striving to achieve your very best despite these.” If you are trying to master something (instead of it having to be perfect), you will accept mistakes and even setbacks (which you formerly called failure) as the “way”. If you’re giving it your best, then this mastery is what we should be aiming for. How does that resonate with your personality?
Daily Gratitude
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Daily Gratitude: Of course since I study Internal Family Systems I believe there is you and a lot of other “yours” (your parts) but the concept is the same. You have relationships with your parts (or the one other you if that’s what you choose to believe. Once I realized that there really was a big old family inside of me, I began to feel less alone and also started to understand many of the behaviors I could not comprehend. That was the beginning of my developing a strong relationship for the first time. I’ve continued with this relationship building and it’s been the best experience of my life. You have to know what’s going on inside of you. That’s the only way you can present your true self to the world. It helps you be more authentic and calm when being in the world. Stop focusing on things outside of your world and pay attention to what’s going on inside of you. If you don’t, your nervous system will continue to go haywire and you’ll manifest it in physical symptoms. Work on yourself please.
Daily Gratitude
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Daily Gratitude: This is so important. I was (and sometimes still am) a victim of this thinking. “I’ll be happy when I do this or do that (lose weight, gain weight, gain muscle, graduate, etc)”. What if that never happens? All those days and weeks and sometimes years went to waste. The ironic part is that many of us won’t even be happy when we lose those 10 pounds or get x amount of money. We have to look deep – at the reason behind this desire. What are we really looking for? That is the important question to examine. When you find yourself saying “I can’t wait until x,y, or z” stop and ask yourself why you can’t just be happy and enjoy the now? It may be all you have.