This past week has been another stressful one. I know I sound like a broken record, but for a while now that is how things have been. I envision the weekends as being quite productive, getting some shopping done, cleaning out the fridge, greeting the dust bunnies who have set up a wee little home under the bed. You know, ‘regular’ things that shouldn’t really present a challenge.
Well, that’s not how things have played out this weekend thus far. I tend to be very hard on myself in always feeling that I need to do everything perfectly. I think I have an attitude that if I can’t do something perfectly then I hesitate to do it at all. That’s not to say I don’t take risks with new activities; I do. It’s just that at times I feel like a deer in headlights, letting fear envelop me so that I maintain a frozen demeanor, worried about failing at even the most routine of tasks.
But you know what, I started to think about Leonard Cohen, a wonderful Canadian composer who passed on last week. He said something in his song, “Anthem” that is so incredibly poignant, and in particular, very meaningful to me:
Ring the bells that still can ring;
Forget your perfect offering;
There is a crack in everything;
That’s how the light gets in;
That’s how the light gets in.
I took the photo at the top of this post last week. It reminds me about the light getting in. Our imperfections are what make us human; we aren’t supposed to be ‘perfect’. The light (energy, source, God, the divine) gets in only because of the imperfections. It’s better to simply be who I am and not worry about some unachievable measuring stick that only superheros in movies can relate to, don’t you think?
Don Miguel Ruiz wrote a phenomenal book called, “The Four Agreements”. In it he described the four ‘themes’ we should agree to in order to have a healthier, happier, more genuinely great life. One of his agreements talks about doing your best, although your best will vary each day, based on how you are feeling, what’s going on, etc. We shouldn’t create an imaginary measuring stick to uphold every day, since the bar has to be set according to how you are doing on any given day. Maybe your best today was to get out of bed, read a book, and sip some tea. The next day your best changed quite considerably and you walked for an hour and a half!
I find this thought-provoking as well, as it allows us to set our own measuring stick, and vary it as we see fit. As long as we do our best, no matter what that looks like, that is enough.
Today I will give myself permission to set the bar at writing this post (done by the time you read this of course!), cut some coupons out of the paper, take a quick jaunt to the grocery store, and settle back down with a nice cuppa.
The light gets in and my best today is achieved.
Have a wonderful, self-bar setting, light entering weekend!
The Chicago Files 