Have you noticed how often when people talk about making changes in their lives they phrase it as "leaving the old me behind" or something similar to that? But is that what we're actually doing? I don't believe so.
Recently I read something in perfect alignment with my beliefs on this. In her work A Year to Clear What's Holding You Back, Stephanie Bennett Vogt says –
Read that again if you need to. Take it in.
Perhaps, like me, you've heard the idea that, "You're perfect just as you are. You are good enough, smart enough, everything enough. You are enough." Perhaps, also like me, your response to this thought is mixed. One part of me soars with hope and sighs with relief that this may be the truest thing I've ever heard. At the same time, another part of me screams, "No! This is not true. I am so much less than I could be."
How can we reconcile those two thoughts?
By knowing who we are.
It's been said by many – and I believe – we are spiritual beings having a mortal experience. It's that spiritual part of us that's the heart of who we are, the "real" us. Of course, our bodies, our physical selves, are real, too, but they're not "us"; they're vessels for our spiritual self. This spiritual self is the one who soars with hope and sighs with relief and can accept the idea that they're perfect as they are. They're not "damaged goods" no matter what life may have thrown at them, no matter how imperfect their current habits, attitudes, or beliefs may be.
Ironically, it's also these spiritual selves of ours who know we're not living up to all we are, that we can do better, behave better, live in closer accordance with our true selves. But this self is also aware that taking advantage of all life has to teach us is a process. Life is a school, and our spiritual self has the wisdom to know we don't take all our classes the moment we're born and has the patience to be at peace with the process. It can see our "imperfections" without judgment and know those are merely courses we still need to take. It knows we can be perfect and still be a student. We don't need to be a ‘graduate' to be perfect.
So, yes, looking at it in this light, it's true that we're perfect as we are while still having room for improvement. It's embodied in the phrase "perfectly imperfect." We'll talk about this more next week.
In the meantime remember -
