There are so many ways to get distracted by our daily struggles
To give in…to frustration and emotion
To the energy in motion we, or others, generate
To capsize, just when we finally get our boat to float
When, after days of going nowhere fast, we finally catch wind
Only to wobble, then topple over
Because we found another hole or tear in our tattered sail

There will always be another inconvenience
Another limitation
Not enough time, energy, money
Another shortcoming or shortfall
A feeling of falling short
There will always be another personal weakness to address
Another symptom
Another misperception to correct in our Self
This ALL holds true

This doesn’t have to create a full stop
The journey can continue
perhaps this time, though, with less perfectionism

This, then, is permission to not be perfect
And to move forward anyways
When you are tired, bleary-eyed and not at all your best
When the wind is not at your back
When things are seemingly working against you

At that moment when you begin to question your abilities,
when you are taking inventory of all you feel you cannot be, or do
or all you have not yet been,
because…because…because…it has happened in this way so. many. times. before.

Stop.
Give yourself a break.
This is not your Identity. The suffering is real enough but it is not the Truth.
It is this difficult…somedays…yes, it is
Yet you can feel the struggle when you are in it, and then you can let it go when you are not.
You have this power: You can set it down.
You can move forward, unencumbered in yourself, without the albatross of perfectionism weighing you down,
that dark shadow causing you to believe that because you are not, right now,
or because you couldn’t, yesterday, you cannot ever. No, not ever.

Leave the past where it belongs: Back there
You do not have to bring it into this moment, or the next
Just because it happened once, or a hundred times, before doesn’t mean it will happen, again, today
You get to be right here, right now, fresh and new

And you get to be you: Perfect You
With your questions and unsolved mysteries
With all of your: weaknesses and struggles and oh my god the inescapable stories your mind generates
You get to be tired, make mistakes, be unpolished, incorrect, and messy
You get to be the student, the one who is making it up as she goes along

You also get to be Wise One, the True Self, who surprises you now and again
You get to be the playful Sprite who springs to life when the Inner Critic silences
You get to discover new ways to play, relax and nurture your Spirit
And when you discover a Grace you hadn’t known existed within you, Yes, YOU…

You get to be a Goddess

Without dark clouds of perfectionism overshadowing, you get to receive your own Light

Your struggles do not diminish your Light
They allow You to shine in that certain pattern and way
You are the potter who learns to work with the clay it’s been given,
and what ails you, plagues you, refuses to leave you alone… gives your life its specific work, shape, focus

Your struggles give rise to the kind of Art that only you can make

So be messy
Speak aloud
Stumble over your words
Take the risk
Then, change your mind: If you don’t like what you’ve created, do it over again

This, then, is permission to not be perfect
Decide to do that thing that you’ve been wanting to do
In spite of not being …rested/clear/ready/perfect/… enough
(YOU are enough)
Do it anyway

Artwork: Card from the Intuitive Energy Divination Deck: SHIPPING NOW! Click here to order.