Lessons from Nature-Nothing is Perfect

     I did a little camping last month and it gave me time to think about all kinds of things and observe nature up close and personal. 

     I love to take lessons from nature and so this post is going to be about one of the lessons that I took from my time in the woods.
         
​     Did you ever notice that nature produces nothing that’s perfect?  Everything in nature has some sort of imperfection in its formation or it gets impacted and changed by something that’s in the environment around it.  When you look at a forest landscape, it can look so perfect.  The leaves are green; there are different textures. And, it looks perfect from a distance.  But, when you get up close, you see there are millions of imperfections in the shape of the leaf or the colors of the leaves.   They’re usually mottled or maybe even yellowed, and just imperfect in their own perfect way. So, the lesson I take from this is that we can’t expect perfection in anything or anyone for that matter.

     We want our relationships to be a reflection of nature. Nature is fluid, changing, growing all the time.  Translate this to relationships.  We really can’t expect perfection from other people or from ourselves. But, do we really expect that? Don’t we get upset when our partner doesn’t meet our expectations? When we first start to get to know our partner, we notice the beautiful things in them. We notice the things we see as perfection. We notice the color or the motion, the essence of their being. Just like the forest’s perfection from a distance.  But, once we get a little closer, we see things a little closer, get to know them a little better, we start to see the flaws.  Those flaws inevitably draw our attention away from what we might see as perfect. We might feel like we’ve been betrayed or duped or that we’ve been sold a flawed product when we got together with this person.

     There comes a time we just have to back up and pay attention to the imperfect perfection that is everyone and everything in nature. Your perspective really is important isn’t it?  Do you think that you’re perfect? Of course you don’t, at least I hope you don’t. Do you think that your partner focuses on your flaws?  Do they notice your perfections or imperfections more?  If you’re lucky enough to have a partner that doesn’t pay much attention to your flaws, is it possible that somewhere along the line they made a decision about what to pay attention to?  If I had a choice, I’d certainly want my partner to focus on my positive qualities vs. my imperfections.

        Another element of this perfection versus imperfection dance is how we practice self-compassion. Do you let yourself notice the glorious perfection that you are or do you spend a lot of time focusing on what you see as your imperfections? So, this is a lesson we can take into our self-compassion as well as into our compassion for our partners. We have a choice about where we place our attention, and like all habits, it’s something that has to be developed.  That takes motivation and intention to do that. I hope that your motivation is to win in your relationship!
If you remember back to that time when all you saw was the perfection, when you committed to your partner, wasn’t it your intention to honor them? Both their perfections and their imperfections, that is. And, shouldn’t we have the same commitment to ourselves? So, focusing on the areas of perfection versus the imperfection is one of those winning behaviors. And, it’s what you’d like from your partner, too.

     So, have you been focusing on the imperfections in your partner? Or in yourself? If you need to do self-work then take this opportunity to look at that. How can you shift that perspective and take in the perfection that is all of us?
Practice Time:  Spend just a few minutes jotting down the things that are perfect about your relationship, your partner, or yourself.  Get a list of eight or ten things that you love about your relationship, partner or yourself.  Now you’re going to leave those notes around somewhere where you’ll come across them several times a day. Maybe on the bathroom counter or in your purse would be a good place. When I want to look at something several times a day, I put it in my appointment book. A lot of people set up reminders on their phone, which is great if you’re into technology. Take a few seconds every time that comes into your awareness and just hold that thought of perfection. For a moment or two, really feel and appreciate that thought fully.  A few moments and a few times a day can really help you in this journey you’re on.  It can help shift your perspective back to the view that looks perfect rather than the close-up view that shows you all of the imperfections.
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     And remember, nobody is perfect; nothing in nature is perfect, relationships aren’t supposed to be perfect. 

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