“How come the world doesn’t see things through my eyes?” These are astute words on a painting that has been hanging in my office for the last 15 years (penned by a, then, 17-year-old beautiful, artistic client of mine).
Those words resonated deeply with me and made me wonder why the world didn’t see things through my eyes. I always felt I had a different lens than most, and I view all human beings as flawed. I don’t look at human flaw with contempt, derision, judgment, or righteousness. Instead, I embrace and cherish human flaw as an opportunity for growth, redemption, and education. It’s a path forward, a path toward hope. That’s what allows me to motivate people. And no one is exempt from that possibility.
I think there is a natural beauty in flaws. And the simple truth is no one is perfect. Constantly striving for perfection can be counter-productive. Perfection is like a dog chasing its tail. It is unattainable. There will always be someone faster, smarter, more attractive, and funnier than us. Perfection gives us a false sense that there is a ceiling to achieve some level of the “right” way to be.
Each individual has within them an immeasurable amount of possibility. In order to achieve that possibility, we have to overcome the fear of our innate flaws and learn to focus on our strengths while accepting and working within the boundaries of our weaker links.
Some of the flaws that we experience and have trouble accepting are envy, jealousy, spite, vindictiveness, laziness, and unproductiveness. A lot of us have difficulty accepting anxiety, anger, sadness, and criticism. Many people also feel insecure about their appearance and are overly critical of the discomfort they feel with their social abilities. Most of these types of flaws may never go away.
I encourage people to embrace their humanness, instead of denying it. Denying the truth about the thoughts that you’re having doesn’t help build your authenticity, denying that you’re human doesn’t build self-confidence and denying that you have flaws doesn’t build self-respect. Our flaws can help us strive forward, maybe lurching or even stumbling at times.
I believe we would all be so much more content if we could be honest with ourselves, accept and own our inherent flaws and learn to cope and understand them. If we do that, we can work toward creating a path which may help peel them away, growing and learning as we go.
Once you’ve determined how to grow within them, you will build a much more satisfied life than wishing you were different than you are.
A Path to Sustainable Life Satisfaction
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Originally published on Thrive Global.