I’m perfect. Just want to let you know, because I tell myself that all the time: no mistakes allowed! Any mistakes reveal a fatal flaw and must be severely punished and never repeated.
Yup, exhausting. Exhausting to be me, exhausting to be around me. Being human has never come naturally. Luckily, we got thrown into a pandemic! Lucky only because I was forced to find a way to grapple with this perfectionism, lack of control, and general hyper-reactivity: meditation.
I can hear you groan; a trite, simplistic answer “just meditate, nah nah”. Not to come off all gwyneth, but Transcendental Meditation really works. 20 minutes, twice a day. The key is EASY. Sit comfortably (really; lotus position not required, not even a straight back; lie down if you wish), close your eyes, repeat your mantra. I got my mantra from a TM teacher, but not even that is required.
Still have a lot of thoughts? OK. Fall asleep? OK. Lose the mantra? OK. Scratch an itch, stretch out a limb? OK and OK. This is EASY, nobody’s idea of traditional meditation, but it is “ancient technology” and it works. 20 minutes, twice a day.
And the result, for me, is a calmer self who judges less and laughs more. Another “bozo on the bus”. Another human, doing her bit. Imperfectly.
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