It doesn't always have to be perfect...

my advice to myself.

It wants perfection.
It wants to be on time.

It wants to be orderly.
It wants to be precise.

It wants to show that it can do it.
It wants to prove that it can.

It wants to fit in.
It wants to achieve…

It wants to be different.
It wants to be itself.

It wants to be colourful.
It wants to play.

It wants to wild.
It wants to be free.

It wants to
to….
to….

just be me.

It’s Wednesday morning, and by now I would have my draft letter written to you, ready for a final read through before I send it out
this evening.
Right now though I am following a thread and I’m unsure where it is taking me.

And yet, I do know where it wants to go…

It wants to go SIMPLE.
It wants to go GENTLE.

It wants to say to me - and then you - just leave it for now. You can have the night off. It doesn’t always have to be on time. It doesn’t always have to be “perfect.”

GO SIMPLY.
GO GENTLY.

Sometimes there are words and pictures and prose and poetry and a story that comes easily and swiftly and there is so much to say,

today though,
it is slowly coming and the message that keeps coming is

GO GENTLY.
GO SOFTLY.

Honour the voice within that wants to hibernate in its own sacred cave.
Honour the voice within that says “It’s important to give to myself.”
Honour the voice within that says “Early nights are important, self care is vital and going deep within is what the soul craves for.”

GO.
GENTLY.

GO.
SOFTLY.

Do you place lots of expectations on yourself - some consciously, some subconsciously?
Do you live in the lands of “Should -Be-Doing” and “Should-Have-Done?”
Do you place so much pressure on yourself that the Moments-of-Now are lost in the Worries-of-the-next-Moments.

I have done that.
Lived like that.
And yes, I have journeyed happily out of that place,

and then,
somehow
slipped quietly back in to those places again.

We are humans.
We have pressures of society, family, religion, culture, work, education etc etc etc that sits in our DNA, our cells, our conscious being,
that sits upon our shoulders like proud gargoyles,

And then,
if that isn’t enough,
we decide to place our own pressures of how we SHOULD be in the world
and we place that on our shoulders too.

No wonder we get shoulder pain
and neck pain.
No wonder our back is tired and the muscles in our body are stiff.

We energetically carry too much.

Because of that one word….

“SHOULD”

• Why do we choose to use that word so much?

• Why do we choose to impart so much pressure on ourselves through the words we say - both out loud and in our minds?

• Why do we choose to live in the Land of Guilt, Shame and Worry? (“I should have done that…”, “I should be doing this, that and the other”)

• Why do we “Do” so much and forget to “Be” so much?
  

Imagine if we took that word out of our language, I wonder what you would replace it with?

Maybe,

“I choose to be doing …”
”I am trying …”
”No thanks! I am doing something different.”
”I’ve decided to do it this way…”

We are humans.

Sometimes we carry that extra pressure.
Why?
Why do we choose to hold onto that backpack so full of pressure, guilt and worry?
Why do we choose to carry it like a badge of honour?

Why?

Do other animals put so much pressure on themselves to multi task in many different ways? Only the octopus has 8 arms!

Why do we want to do so many things all at once? Be so many people all at once?

When we look at the natural world everything just is.

The fish are fish. They are not trying to be the bird.
The daisy is a daisy. It isn’t trying to be the oak.
The wind is the wind. It isn’t trying to be the sun.

Why do we try to be someone/something we aren’t?

Oh dear!
We have once again crossed that threshold..and arrived back into the Land of Should-Be and Should-Have…

Oh dear!!!!

So today I am choosing to consciously listen to my own inner counsel, the counsel that says,

“Just pause Sam,
as you gently hold that cuppa in your hands and feel the warmth it gives you.
Just pause Sam,
as you gently look into that cup and watch the ripples come and go.
Just pause Sam,
as you watch the water in your cup and see it settle.

Slowly.
Softly.
Gently.

Just pause Sam,
as you slowly lift your head and look out the window.
Just pause Sam,
as you see how the wind dances in the trees.
Just pause Sam,
as you notice how the light shines through the leaves and the waves dance beyond the horizon.
Just pause Sam.

Just for now.
Just pause.”

I am consciously choosing a more peaceful life.

---

What is it like for you when you step over the threshold into the Land of Should Be and Should Have?

What advice can you give your heart when your mind is trying to do so many things at once?

What words can YOU use instead of should be/should have?

In honour of your journey.

x