Living with perfectionism

We're All Different


When we ask ourselves the question :

How did I decide that this is the way it is to be?

If the answer is,

it has to be, I have got to...

then ask yourself

according to whom'

This should give you an indication as to which values and beliefs drive you forward.

As children we are often told to do this, or that without explanation and we accept this without question. It does take your personal power away. As adults it can be refreshing to question whose voice you hear in your head when you are driven to do something in particular and reclaim the initiative to make decisions that are in line with the values and beliefs that are true for you.

If you ask yourself why you do things, and what is important to you, you might begin to see that your priorities are confused. Is it worth giving up time with your family to spend a whole day cramming in details of a report, or going back to the office to catch up on work? Is it really necessary to have a mortgage on a large house, which means that you have to go to work 60 hours per week. Could it be different? Ask yourself what the costs are of this and what the benefits are and weigh up one with the other. Then decide.

We often think we could have done better and yet we can also learn to take stock and say, that was great, I really enjoyed that. We then can also acknowledge when what we do is not making us feel so great and why.

TV and advertising have the ability to sell you a product by appealing to certain emotional states; my children used to tell me when shopping what soap powder I should get and in reality that was the voice of the advert talking. Why do we buy things? Who is that voice in your head saying we need to do this, or that? It can refreshing to question our automatic behaviours and consciously decide what we need in that given moment.

We could decide to live simply to enable others to simply live. In a world where famine is a reality and where we live with abundance ;it needs every individual who can make choices to be true to themselves.