Practice Makes Imperfect

After my blogs have been posted each week I go onto my website to give them a once over. In a few instances I've noticed errors in the text. I instantly get a clenching in my gut because it's not perfect, and it's there for all to see. My impulse is to dash back into the writings and rectify the flaws glaring in my work.

It's not that I made no effort prior to their posting to present them as shiny, new baubles. I read and re-read and proofread some more. I called in the assistance of the computer's technology to capture any of the scandalous flubs that slithered past my critical eye. The next day, I repeated the same systems check. I wanted my offerings to dazzle with perfection.

Come to find out, they were lacking some razzle to go with that dazzle. I wasn't perfect, nor were the steps I had put in place to contain the errant rebels that littered my writings, commonly know as mistakes. Oh, the frustration. "What to do?" I asked myself. The answer that came to me was shocking; let them stand.

"Why?" I wondered. Quite simple really, it demonstrates to others that I'm not the ever elusive "perfect" and perhaps that will give them permission to accept the same within themselves. That's not to say that we shouldn't make efforts to present our best, but when our end product sometimes falls short of our vision we can accept that imperfections are part of everyone's process each and every day. I've never met another that hasn't made a mistake, I'm confident in saying neither have you. How arrogant of us to believe that somehow we are an exception to that rule. How cruel we are to ourselves, judging and criticizing as we make attempts to deny what seems to be a universal truth, we all make mistakes.

Is there ever a time to attempt to correct our errors? Certainly, most especially if we've caused harm to another. In those instances we must make amends as best we can, the mistake has already been made, and set clear intentions to not repeat the same offense.

But if the inherent message or intention is intact, as in the case of my writings, why go back to correct a detail that has no consequence? To prove you're perfect? Well, we already know you're not; the secrets out. Even though there were some minor goofs in my previous blogs, it in no way affected what I was trying to get across to my readers. And so, I'm choosing to let them remain as is. Now you know I'm not perfect either, we're even.

What mistakes have you made that you are willing to let see the light of day, no longer cloaked in secrecy or shame? Perhaps you can allow them to exist as just that, a mistake, not a value statement that you're a mistake or somehow less than. Mistakes are something we do, not who we are. Our blunders are not meant for flogging or berating oneself. In this world in which we operate mistakes are some of our greatest teachers, guiding us into new lands of opportunities, growth and discoveries. And that, my friends, is true perfection.

Be well and happy.

(One order of business: Per Google you will now be required to have a Google account in order to follow and read this blog. I hope you consider doing just that! Thanks.)