Perfect

I have been wondering about this obsession of being perfect. Obsession is a strong word, and I am saying this because there is this need for being perfect at every stage, every phase, every thing we do. In small ways and big ways. And this craving for perfection has been eating us up. Yes, perfection is essential in many fields, otherwise nothing will function. But I am talking about the subtle ones that we take upon ourselves and define our life based on whether we are able to achieve it or not.

Here is an example - being a Sunday, I woke up and just sat out not doing anything. I sat not being able to get myself to unroll my yoga mat. After a long time, started doing Surya Namaskara. My obsession with numbers took over me and I wanted to do 100 Surya Namaskaras. But I could get myself to do only 50 and ended with meditation. Earlier I would have been not so happy with not doing the PERFECT 108 number. But I told myself it is ok. Things like this happen everyday, every hour right? The day my kids eat veggies, I feel they have eaten a perfect meal, the day there is 100% participation we might feel it was a perfect meeting, the day when our house is clean and tidy we may feel it is a perfect house, the day I complete all my todo tasks I may feel a perfect day - there can be no end to our perfectness! 

A perfect person, a perfect situation, a perfect body, a perfect job, a perfect partner, a perfect friend, a perfect child, a perfect parent, a perfect trip, a perfect flower, a perfect workout - am sure at some point in life, all of us have wondered about this "perfect" ness or ism, isn't it? 

There is nothing wrong in aiming to be good at something. But the minute we tell ourselves this is perfect or I am perfect or someone is perfect or something is perfect - 2 things can happen - one is we might tell ourselves there is nothing more to learn or do here, another thing is a certain kind of superiority/inferiority may kick in (superiority if we think we are perfect or what we have done is perfect and inferiority if we think someone else is perfect). 

We will never be able to enjoy every moment of this journey if we are always aiming for something in the future. Instead if we are not looking at how the end result might turn out, we will give our 100% in everything we do and can still be content!

Trying to get a perfect sunrise picture :)))

I was happy just to see sunrise after many months :)

Full moon

Life is telling us Everything Is Perfect Exactly The Way It Is Now

My Best Friend

After what seems like a long long time, I finally headed out for a loong walk. Left home at 6am and walked for 5.5km. Took a break and again headed back home. Oh the joy of outside world! 

Every weekend I try to see if I can meet any of my friends. But it hardly happens as understandably everyone I know is always busy. So since last many months I have justified not stepping out by telling myself I don't have company. Though I have to say I am comfortable being home, stepping out into the world refreshes us, motivates us in ways that we cannot explain. So finally decided to get myself out of bed today (and hope to do so every Saturday) morning for a walk at least. 

I am sure most of us keep hearing quotes and phrases like "we are our best friend", "loving ourselves", "enjoying our own company", "being independent" and thousands of other similar ones. For few people this comes naturally (may be). But for most of us it takes conscious thinking to reach there. I am glad to say that I have started my journey on that path :) and I hope each one of us can. Yesterday I came across a person using the word "reverence" to refer herself. I thought it was so powerful, but at the same time how many of us treat ourselves with reverence? It is easy to respect others, like others, love others, be fond of others. But to be able to be gentle with ourselves, be caring towards ourselves - does it come naturally? It might, but it is a good question to ask ourselves! Because remember ONLY when we are happy with ourselves, can we give our 100% to others :)

Idlis and coffee with myself

My best friends :))))))

My Teacher

Yesterday was Teacher's Day in India. I am on my third year journey in school. The word teacher seems a bit too far fetched for me as I feel we all are learning everyday from everyone, from every experience, from nature and by just being. 

When I joined school I knew I was there to learn along with my children. Yesterday I had so much fun becoming my older one's student. He taught me to make Ganesha idol from clay.  The way he taught us made all the difference in how we learnt. And we had so much FUN.  

I guess all of us agree that the joy of learning never ceases to satisfy us at any age. That is the best part, there is no age bar to learning!!! 

And yesterday morning one of my aunts was mentioning how cooking something new helps her feel motivated to cook. When we attempt to learn or do something new, our mind switches automatically to alert mode isn't it? Because it is new, we have to focus on what we are doing and this helps in refreshing our mind and connecting to ourselves. I am saying that this helps us connect to ourselves mainly because when we choose to learn, we do so because we love that particular thing and hence we have opted to learn. 

Here is my first attempt. When the teacher is good, the student has a good time :))

Our teacher, Me, Another student :)