personal best
Apr. 13th, 2005 09:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonPortions of some comments recently made in a friend's LJ which more or less describe my feelings about growing up and "doing enough":
...personally, I'm not sure I'll ever grow "up," at least until I stop growing, i.e., death, and probably not even then. There is no end-point, just a constant series of becoming. I suspect that I'll get to/have to just keep becoming more fully who I am, until I'm not that anymore ;>
Catch up? To what or whom? By who and what do you set your standards? Wo/Man is always the measure of hirself -- the only yardstick by which you can truly measure yourSelf is you. Are you doing enough to be truly you? How can you do more than what you already do to be you, to find out who that is and truly be hir?
What does it mean to do the best you can? I believe that we all do it (the best we can), in each possible moment, even if we're not always thrilled with what that "best" turns out to be. That's a root of personal compassion for me -- not, however, as an excuse to passively sit like a lump and assume personal perfection, but to know that in each moment, I'm making the best choices I can, based on who and where I am at this moment. And then, in the next moment, to try to do better, without slowing myself down by the convenient side-tracking of self-flagellation (except insofar as it brings you joy ;>) over presumed past "mistakes." I've found that learning from the past is a great (essential) tool, but beating oneself up over the past is just a handy way we avoid actually getting on with our Work, by tying up the energy of possible change and personal growth into wounding/weakening ourselves, and then in having to heal up from the self-imposed wounds afterwards. We trixy humans are really very clever at finding creative ways to avoid our Work, it seems to me... ;>
But then we can also choose to find and use tools which help our best to become better -- to find and be open to our desire, to access, know and be empowered by our will, and to focus, wield and manifest our intent. But the most important step is knowing that you have those tools within you, that the seeking and gaining of them, and the journey of becoming ever more fully human, of becoming ever more fully yourSelf is your absolute birthright. What a gift!
...personally, I'm not sure I'll ever grow "up," at least until I stop growing, i.e., death, and probably not even then. There is no end-point, just a constant series of becoming. I suspect that I'll get to/have to just keep becoming more fully who I am, until I'm not that anymore ;>
Catch up? To what or whom? By who and what do you set your standards? Wo/Man is always the measure of hirself -- the only yardstick by which you can truly measure yourSelf is you. Are you doing enough to be truly you? How can you do more than what you already do to be you, to find out who that is and truly be hir?
What does it mean to do the best you can? I believe that we all do it (the best we can), in each possible moment, even if we're not always thrilled with what that "best" turns out to be. That's a root of personal compassion for me -- not, however, as an excuse to passively sit like a lump and assume personal perfection, but to know that in each moment, I'm making the best choices I can, based on who and where I am at this moment. And then, in the next moment, to try to do better, without slowing myself down by the convenient side-tracking of self-flagellation (except insofar as it brings you joy ;>) over presumed past "mistakes." I've found that learning from the past is a great (essential) tool, but beating oneself up over the past is just a handy way we avoid actually getting on with our Work, by tying up the energy of possible change and personal growth into wounding/weakening ourselves, and then in having to heal up from the self-imposed wounds afterwards. We trixy humans are really very clever at finding creative ways to avoid our Work, it seems to me... ;>
But then we can also choose to find and use tools which help our best to become better -- to find and be open to our desire, to access, know and be empowered by our will, and to focus, wield and manifest our intent. But the most important step is knowing that you have those tools within you, that the seeking and gaining of them, and the journey of becoming ever more fully human, of becoming ever more fully yourSelf is your absolute birthright. What a gift!
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no subject
Date: 2005-04-13 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-13 07:41 pm (UTC)