How Do You Perceive and Handle Your Own Flaws and Imperfections?
Everyone is flawed and imperfect. Do you embrace or resist your flaws and imperfections?
Nobody is perfect. And I mean NOBODY.
It doesn’t matter who you are, where you came from, or anything else at all that you can think of – NOBODY IS PERFECT.
What’s more – perfection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. That which you might identify as perfect I might see as an imperfect, ridiculous mess. And vice versa.
Everyone has flaws and imperfections. Yes, everyone. All the nearly 8 billion people on this planet are flawed and imperfect.
Flaws and imperfections are utterly subjective. And most of the time, what we perceive as flawed and/or imperfect is a product solely of our unique, individual perspective.
It doesn’t help that society tends to imply or outright state that flaws and imperfections are undesirable. Or that they make you weak.
It takes something normal and natural and turns it into a mental health issue and a source of anxiety and depression.
Standards and norms are totally made-up BS
Everything that we identify as standard and normal is made-up bullshit.
Average body weight? Numbers practically pulled out of a hat that accounts for a very limited number of people. The same is true of average height, average income, and every indicator of “normal” you can think of. All of these are made-up bullshit.
What’s standard and normal? Who decides what these are? Sure, some government agency might have created a standard or normal for this, that, or the other thing. But if they hadn’t, it wouldn’t exist as a standard or norm.
Not counting weights and measures – also made up at one time or another – all standards and norms are made-up bullshit. Decided upon arbitrarily and accepted by one group or another as truth.
For a long time now, we’ve accepted a certain body type for men and women as the standard. Yet, in truth, no more than a single-digit percentage of people meet those standards. We’re all variable in our height-to-weight ratios, body fat, musculature, and more. Yet we do all kinds of things both good and bad to ourselves to meet standards and norms that are often nearly impossible to meet.
Or worse – after you meet them, they change.
Marilyn Monroe and Kate Moss were each considered a standard measure of beauty at different times. Their bodies are very, very different in lots of ways.
Hence why standards and norms are totally made-up bullshit. Yet we use them to identify our flaws and imperfections – be they material or immaterial.
And this can be utterly maddening.
Your flaws and imperfections are yours
Nobody wants to have flaws or imperfections. Why? Because we’re frequently presented with messages that flaws and imperfections are undesirable. We’re told that they make us weak, make us unworthy, unlovable, unwelcome, and otherwise worthless.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Our flaws and imperfections are often a huge part of what makes us unique and amazing.
I’m only 5’6” – when I bother to stand up straight. Presently, I weigh a bit more than 250lbs. All my excess weight is in my gut – so I am an unusual shape. This doesn’t even cover my other imperfections from certain bone repairs and the titanium plates around my right clavicle.
Yes, for my overall health and wellbeing I’m working on getting into better shape. My weight needs to come down so I can avoid potential health problems as I age.
However, despite these flaws, I have a resting heart rate typically in the mid to low-60s. perfectly normal blood pressure, and better stamina and endurance than many who’re considered less flawed and imperfect – as well as considerably younger than me.
How do I handle my flaws and imperfections? I recognize and acknowledge them. Then, I work with, through, and even around them where I can.
Thus, I don’t allow my flaws and imperfections to derail my life or dictate who I should be. Sure, some I can and am working to change. But overall – I accept what’s mine and from there do what I can with it.
How do you do that?
Mindfulness of flaws and imperfections
Conscious awareness is a product of the here and now. To be consciously aware, you need to be mindful.
How? By knowing your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and related actions in the present. That is conscious awareness – and that is how you ultimately see yourself for yourself.
It’s all too easy to get caught up in the hoopla of normal, standard, and perfection. Everywhere we look we’re utterly flooded by messages to those ends.
When we are less mindful, our subconscious is driving us. That means we, like a sponge, absorb everything – even unwanted things.
When we practice mindfulness, we’re making a conscious choice. We’re deciding to be aware in the here-and-now of ourselves. From that awareness, ultimately, we gain greater awareness of all else around us.
Be careful, however, with this. It’s not about being mindful and consciously aware of the flaws and imperfections in others. Because that’s not for us to decide – since we can do nothing for anyone else and any flaws or imperfections we perceive.
Besides – who says what you see as flawed someone else doesn’t see as normal? Remember – it’s all subjective.
When we’re mindful of our own flaws and imperfections – we can decide how they impact us, if at all.
Remember, all standards and norms are wholly made-up BS. Flaws and imperfections are everywhere, and everyone has them.
Accepting this is the best way to handle our own.
And then, perhaps, from that, we can be less judgmental of others and their shortcomings, real or perceived. Within logic and reason, of course.
How you perceive and handle your flaws and imperfections will drive your life path – to the good, bad, or otherwise. The choice is yours.
How do you perceive and handle your own flows and imperfections?
This is the five-hundred and sixty-sixth exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – using mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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