“Don’t wait… the time will never be just right.” - Napoleon Hill
This quote really hits home. How many of my own creative dreams have been hampered by fears related to procrastination and perfectionism. How many words have gone unwritten, unexpressed because the weather is too cold or too hot? How many times have I put off writing because I’m “too tired” or not in a state of ecstatic or peak creativity?
What if each moment was ripe for expression in its own way? I can embrace the opportunity in each moment. I will open my eyes to what there is to learn from all energy states. This won’t doom me to be stuck in any undesired states but will encourage me to appreciate them and acknowledge their presence and take beneficial action. Say goodbye to my old friend - denial!
What is perfect anyway? Perfection in a sense would imply there being nothing left to do. Life is not perfect in that way but is an unfinished and unfolding process. It is not a destination but a process that ever unfolds in the present moment. Perfection is stagnation and I feel its presence many times in my work. I hear its call in my worries about other opinions. I often protest on the canvas of my mind that everyone must like it or I won’t do it. This clots and clogs progress like the thickest of arterial plaques.
And what of perfectionism’s cousin procrastination? How many excuses have I made? Did I make them because I wasn’t ready or if I faced them earlier would I have become ready? What is ready anyhow and will it keep me waiting forever? I know that burnout is involved here. For decades I have associated work with suffering and hardship. Through my work with mindfulness and mind body medicine I have seen that work can be something else. Work within the right framework can be invigorating and fulfilling and so I’m creating new associations.
A mechanism I’ve discovered is at play within procrastination is the idea that in order to change I must wait for the system to change.It is a falsehood of the most dangerous degree. Systems do not change by trying to change the system. Individuals within a system change and when enough individuals change then the system changes. That is how a system is influenced and has been referred to as the 100th monkey effect. There are some complications here because there is multidimensionhood at play. What I mean is that individuals are made up of their own systems. For example our body is made up of cells, tissues, and organs that form a coherent system. Within this complexity the individual human personality does have a unifying sense of oneness which the individual can identify and enact desired changes within.
Each word expressed on this blog dispenses my own sense of procrastination and perfectionism. Each expression is a march forward toward freedom, a march towards creating a life of maximal fulfillment and connection. Each word builds on decades or even lifetimes of experience. Each word is a wave rising from the ocean of the subconscious to be expressed, experienced, and heard.
Does each of these words move me towards meaning? Move me towards fulfillment? The answer lies in the present moment. In the miracle and lightness that makes movement and meaning out of blank blobs of ink.
As Wayne Dyer urges - Excuses Be Gone! There are no perfect conditions to wait for. God won’t part the seas and say, ‘Dan! Come this way! This is the way you are meant to go.’ There are too many probabilities and the issues of free will to deal with. How fulfilling would it be if that decision were made for me? Besides, if I forge my own path, won’t there be so much to learn? Of course, God and spirit are involved but they wait for direction as the ever present field of love that sprays forth to feel the magic and desires of my being.
So let’s all throw our sense of perfection and procrastination aside. Take a chance, today is a new day, an open invitation for spontaneous expression and creativity.
Until pen and paper meet again,
Daniel Winkle MD