Imperfection

I was reading one of my favorite blogs today, Skinny Runner and saw a link to another blog Shut Up and Run. She had a list of things to live a happier life and the one that really stuck out to me was -

You must love who you are or no one else will either. And when you are truly comfortable in your own skin, not everyone will like you, but you won’t care about it one bit.


My quest over the past few years, especially since I've started Yoga training, has been to love who I am. The first thing I had to do was learn who I was and then figure out how to accept that. Growing up, I never really "fit in" for several reasons, but the main one being that I have a "quirky" personality. I like to say that I'm "worldly" but others might use the term "eccentric". I was always ashamed of this because people made me feel like I needed to be. Then, I tried so many different things to be a different person that it has taken me a long time to figure out who I actually am. What do I like? What do I dislike? Why? 


Through lots of introspection, work with mentors, 12 step work, etc etc, I have come to a place where I'm at least more accepting of myself. I feel completely different in my skin because I know that I'm going to say and do things that I'll regret later, but it doesn't mean that I'm bad as a person, I just am going to make mistakes. 


Another bullet point that I liked was - 


In your quiet moments, pay attention to your self-talk. Because maybe, just maybe, the only thing that needs to shift in order for you to experience more happiness, more love, and more vitality, is your way of thinking.


My self talk is not very positive so while I like to build others up with kind words, I don't give myself that same respect. So, that's my new goal, to talk to myself like I would talk to my grandmother. I would never say anything rude to her because I love her and no matter what she does, I'm only going to respond with love so why can't I do that for myself? 


I'm reading a book called "The Spirituality of Imperfection" 

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I think that this book is going to talk about allowing ourselves to be human, so it'll be interesting to get this perspective. I've had this book for years and have been trying to read it for years, but now I feel like I am actually motivated to do so. I'll report back. 

Another great book to read if you are on a personal exploration is - 

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I HIGHLY recommend this book. It changed my life!

Do you like Marianne Williamson? 

What do you think about Imperfection?