Choose life. Life is wonderful.

Saturday 18 May 2019

PERFECTION IS THE ENEMY OF GREATNESS




I am looking for the perfect system, or probably more correctly, perfect systems, to help me run my life. I am constantly working at it and failing. Other people seem to have streamlined lives and tidy houses.

I am a perfectionist. Most people who know me would question this or maybe even laugh. My home is often untidy and I just can't seem to keep up with everything even though I am not working.

The reason for this is that I tend to perfect some areas of my life and don't have time to work on the rest. 

I like order. But I never manage to get everything ordered. My cooking and recipes are ordered. I always know what I'm cooking for dinner everyday - usually at least week ahead. I always shop for groceries with a list. I use a list of old and new recites.That system I have works quite well.

I'm sure there is a system or other suitable systems that I can develop so my life will fall into place. Other people seem to be able to put their daily life together a lot better than I can put mine together. But I never seem to find anything that works long term.


Mayo Oishin in her article,  Why Embracing Imperfection Will Help You Achieve Your Goals Faster.said,'It’s easy to get carried away with the never-ending search for the perfect plan to achieve our goals.'


And Leo Tolstoy said, ' If you look for perfection, you'll never be content.' And I must admit there are times that I despair at the chaos and incompleteness of my house and the uncertainty in my life, and feel that I am never going to get things sorted properly. Then I have to pull myself together and think about what is most important in life and all the good things I have even if it isn't all perfect. I have to tell myself not to give up and keep working on achieving a system that works.

A couple of years ago, before it became so popular, my brother gave me a copy of Marie Kondo's book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying.  At the time I had a lot of trouble with the 'discarding' part of the process. I can always see something that can be made from something else and have difficulty throwing things away. But I am going to give it another go. She states that if you try to do little bits at a time, you never get to the end. So I am going to plan a day to work on my bedroom first and then other rooms.

I love writing and all sorts of art and craft. I never seem to get around to doing all the things I want. I am always too busy just trying to get tidy.

Jessica Able in her article Creative Compass says in regard to art projects that, 'By breaking giant projects down to tiny next actions (and then ignoring the big picture for a while) you can make concrete progress—without freaking out.'

So my latest plan is to relegate a day a week to organising a room, plus do something creative every day. I have 8 rooms I need to work on. Maybe after a couple of months I can get organised. What I tend to do is move clutter from one room to another. I get small spaces cleaned and decorated perfectly but never everything.

So I have to avoid perfection, move faster and just aim at general order, not very detailed order. Maybe everything won't be perfect but it will give me more satisfaction, and I just have to accept that that is just me.

 In my garden

The lyre bird that visits my deck has been back again. He comes and goes - sometimes disappearing for weeks before he returns again going through his repertoire of bird calls.




Jasper

This past week I have been looking after my daughter's dog Jasper. He is my granddog and I love him.

He loves to lie by the heater.


 And lies on piles of clothing.



He is just totally cute.



I love having him but since I don't have fences it is a bit of a challenge.

Achievements this week

I have done a couple of things this week which I am quite pleased with. They are only small things but things I am pleased with nevertheless.

 I visited someone in hospital who I met through Manna House. (Manna House provides a weekly free dinner for people who may be short of money or just want some company. I volunteer there once a week.) She has an intellectual disability and is having some trouble with a knee replacement

The second thing I did was take my wig back to the wig library at Port Kembla Hospital. I had chemotherapy last year and as a result lost my hair. I wore a wig from the wig library for almost a year. It was wonderful. People who didn't know I was having chemotherapy just thought I had changed my hairstyle slightly. It was also wonderful to take it back. 

Poem of the week

I came across this poem, God's Song by Romella Kitchens. I thought it was quite beautiful.
 

God's Song - Poem by Romella Kitchens

God's Harmonic
Melodic.
Song of life sung by God.
Work the rows.

Golden silk of sun light.

God comes...
He laughs and sings with the angels as they all pass through.
He walks in the field of souls.
His harvest is our contentment.
The complete winning over of our beings.
Hear His rolling, sweet voice on the softest air?
How powerful yet gentle are the steps of His merciful feet.
Holy.
Holy.
All is radiant.
All is the figs of abundant profession.
The sprays of joyous green leafs and the cessation
of hunger profound.
We are fed by His tender gleaning.
Race through the fields of mankind and pick
perfect fruit of the spirit.
Song of Praise.
Song of the fulfillment of days.
Golden is the warmth of knowing God...
Golden and with the taste of honey.



Thank you for all those people who try to comment but for some reason the system won't let them. I can't seem to see what is wrong.




Interesting sites

1. Dodgem cars turned into street legal vehicles

Photo source
There are seven of these cars in California. Click here to see more.



2. Ikea and HP want keep plastics out of the ocean

Photo source
 Ikea and Hp have joined a coalition of companies called New Wave Plastics. They aim to include plastic from the ocean into their supply chain. Click here to read more.












1 comment:

  1. Well done for the things you achieved this week! I am sure there were many more than the ones you wrote about, many you take for granted and don't even think of as achievements. xox

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