Many of us live a life of perfection or in the pursuit of perfection; wanting to control everything. Maybe the agenda might be full of to do tasks and it feels wonderful to be able to accomplish them all, but probably it feels disappointing to not be able to accomplish them, or maybe too, there is no agenda and we feel over saturated because our environment and our life feels too much to be able to process. Perhaps you know someone or you feel in yourself the need to have everything under control and in other words, perfect, or the opposite frustrated because you are not perfect. Let me ask you something, do you know that perfection is the synonym of dissatisfaction. Yes I know!! or Wait what!! You might say. And Yep…! I know, it doesn’t sound very nice seen it this way. That means that our life is full of dissatisfaction. Unfortunately being a perfectionist leads to a life full of uncomfort, and far from joy or happiness; something that we all look for every day.
On the surface, making everything look perfect or “feel” perfect, doesn’t really mean it’s perfect. If we keep a close watch of the perfection that we create, it doesn’t bring a long term of whole satisfaction feeling. The sensation of beauty can last so little that in a very short time we might forget that feeling. Sorry to say it abruptly, but perfectionism and control can be our worst venom in life.
When we are looking for perfection in something or someone, there is a dissatisfaction feeling behind it that is looking to distract us to work on us. For example, there it is our closet, over and over again we are working on it to be neat and perfect. We have all those shirts that makes us look perfect (but that in reality they might fit uncomfortable) but we don’t want to let them go… they are so beautiful for what we want to look like: “Perfect” … if you see where I am going, you understand that behind that perfection, there is that dissatisfaction of who we truly are; looking to be someone else that we are not.
Or maybe, we are so perseverant to continue with that friendship that can be perfect for us and that makes us feel perfect. But behind it all, we know our friend has so many issues, we think and suggest to our friend that he/she should do this… he/she needs to work more on that… maybe he/she needs our help… and many more things like this comes to our mind. And again, behind us trying hard to work on that person’s perfection, there is our dissatisfaction of who we are today that we prefer to look at our friends issues so we don’t see our imperfection and even worse our own dissatisfaction.
Ohh wow! Very deep if you are still reading ;) But behind the sharp reality, there is good news in this, because now you are aware of it. Awareness can bring us one step out of that unhappiness. So if we’re looking at the perfection of something or someone… it means that we’re dissatisfied with it from what it reflects in us. And, if I now know about it, that means that I can work on it consciously and set myself free.
At this point, when we’re aware, we can find the correct tools to heal, change and transform. Maybe we need a doctor, a therapist, or maybe we can connect with ourselves through yoga or meditation. There are many tools that can help us to learn how to release it. As many practices, yoga can guide us to connect with our mind, body and spirit to come back to our honest, happy, and free self.
My hope is that now that you are aware or reminded, you are going to do something about it. Find strategies or tools, or a plan of action. By being aware can help us focus on what we need to do and change in our behavior. For some or many reasons we don’t want to see how beautiful we are. Commit to actions that can lead you to look out for information that will set you free and be in the front seat of contentment.
The light in me, recognizes the light in you,
Namaste - Cecilia de la Rocha
Cecilia de la Rocha is founder of Yoga By Cecilia de la Rocha, a creative and enthusiastic yoga instructor with professional training in hatha & anusara yoga. Always willing to share more with people in a different, loving & fun ways. Her teaching is an innovative fusion of yoga, metaphysics, mindfulness and shadow work that has taught many families, from moms to be, to kids, to adults of all ages and limitations, and to celebrities who want to incorporate yoga as part of their lifestyle. She loves to facilitate private and group workshops. For more information about her work, please visit: www.yogabyceciliadelarocha.com