Magic in the Mundane by Anthea C. Stratigos

Author:Anthea C. Stratigos
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Anthea C. Stratigos
Published: 2019-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Reflect on what makes it hard for you to relax. What obstacles are standing in your way?

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What are three of your favorite ways to relax? What rituals do you create for yourself in order to do so?

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My Miracle Musings:

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Accept

Welcome Excellence

I am a Virgo. We like order, are highly organized, and have a penchant for detail like no other sign in the zodiac. Some people get those traits mixed up with perfection. And I have been a she-lion about the distinction between excellence and perfection. I’ve watched women get hung up on making sure everything is super perfect, whether it’s their hair, their outfit, the way their kids look, their project at work, the way their house is decorated, the icing on the cake, or the tinsel on the tree. I’ve watched them labor to make sure everything is right for fear of something being wrong. In interviews I’ve asked candidates about how they handle things under certain circumstances. Sometimes, based on their response, I’ll ask, “So are you a perfectionist?” and get a nervous giggle back—a sure sign the answer is yes.

Striving for perfection is ceaseless. It never ends. Excellence, on the other hand, is about doing or being your best at individual points in time. I realized years ago that doing something well was about doing one’s best in the moment. Perfection is about trying to achieve the unachievable.

I admire, focus on, and love to do an excellent job. But I am not a perfectionist. I like to think that excellence is about the love of something. Perfectionism is about the fear of something. They do not go hand in hand and are actually extreme opposites of one another. This has freed me to focus on doing a great job while recognizing that perfection isn’t a worthy goal. To remind myself, I like to think of a knitting project I once began. Knitting was new to me, and I was upset with myself when I discovered that I had inadvertently messed up a pattern I was working on. Right across the low back of the sweater, in a prominent spot, I had reversed stitches.

But then I looked at it again. In that little two- or three-inch spot, the reversal actually made a lovely pattern within the pattern. It became my reminder that little errors hidden inside works of art are the universe’s way of exercising cosmic humor to ensure we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Excellence takes many forms. Sometimes it looks like learning a new craft, loving what you are doing, realizing there is a big mistake staring you in the face, and noticing that cool little pattern actually looks beautiful.

Sometimes I was a wreck at Christmas because I wanted it to be perfect instead of excellent. I told Greg one day, “This is not fun. Christmas feels like one big chore.” Of course, that humbug spirit put a big pall on things, including my husband’s picture of what Christmas is.

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