Mistakes, perfection, forgiveness

As humans, we’re imperfect, incomplete, unresolved. But/and compassion lets us also see our wholeness and completeness.

• It helps to see the balanced view of ourselves. Our patterns and imperfections. Our basic innate goodness.
• Accepting our imperfections lets them become part of the path rather than obstacles on the path.
• Self-forgiveness mitigates negative affect, turns avoid into approach.

Every act carries some chance of mistake. When we proceed slowly we can learn from our mistakes.

• Stay engaged and committed to aligning our actions with our values.
• Striving for changes, but/and being at peace with the way it is.
• Keep going. Begin again. Drop the story. Don’t get lost in shame, guilt, or self-hatred.

Mistakes

• Forgive yourself any mistakes and failures up until now. Drop whatever story you’ve been telling yourself. Let go of the past, of whatever has come before. And you act like you would on your best day.
• Stops a mistake (or many mistakes!) snowballing into a failure.
• Making mistakes then learning, unlearning, and relearning is a good sign that you’re on a good track.
• Perfection isn’t a matter of not making any mistakes. It’s about the ability to learn from them, to get up and keep going, to not take mistakes personally or get lost in shame, guilt and self-hatred, to start fresh Here-Now.
• We are willing to take risks and make mistakes. We begin to develop a love for the flavour of difference and its enlivening and disrupting impact.
• Proceeding slowly means mistakes instruct.

Perfection

• Our shaky imperfection thickens the plot … the path of self-knowledge and self-authorship spirals up and down, backward and forward, plummets, rises and falls.
• “You are perfect just as you are, and there’s room for improvement.” — Shunryu Suzuki
• what has always emerged front and center at the root of it all is the willingness to be as I am; to be, on the human level, in some sense imperfect, incomplete and unresolved; and to see that this very person, warts and all, is already whole and complete,
• That doesn’t mean not trying to make changes. But at the same time, being at peace with the way it is—imperfect, unresolved, often painful and unjust.
• Is it possible to forgive the world for being imperfect and to forgive ourselves for being imperfect as well?
• Accepting our imperfections lets them become part of the path rather than obstacles on the path.
• If we try to get rid of our imperfections, they become obstacles to our “self-improvement.” If we accept our imperfections, they become part of the path.
• Perfectionism seeks an exit from the human condition, not an exploration and enrichment of it.
• Imperfections are normal, natural, human.
• Develop a healthy relationship with your imperfections.
• See the balanced view of yourself: your patterns and human imperfections; your basic innate goodness.
• Learn to accept that you did the best you could, given the conditions you had. Learn to accept your imperfections. Forgive yourself–when there is understanding and insight, forgiveness arises naturally.
• Happiness is possible immediately - even if it not everything is perfect.
• True compassion sees wholeness, not lack. It sees perfection, not imperfection.
• The best way towards perfect composure is to forget everything. Then your mind is calm, and it is wide and clear enough to see and feel things as they are without any effort.
• Not perfect, just engaged and committed to aligning actions with values.
• Redundancy is more reliable than attempts at perfection.

Forgiveness

• Bring some kindness and forgiveness to yourself.
• Forgive yourself every failure, completely and immediately.
• The only way to truly forgive is to restart the clock in the present.
• Forgive yourself–when there is understanding and insight, compassion and understanding, forgiveness arises naturally.
• Compassion and forgiveness are possible once we can see the suffering of those who’ve inflicted suffering on us.
• Non-forgiveness comes from feeling separate, being self-centered.
• Forgive yourself for the barriers you put up.
• Self-forgiveness mitigates negative affect, turns avoid into approach.

Added 2024-12-02.