make light, season 3, episode 12: perfectionism

My parents have lived all over the world, and for a time, they lived in Azerbaijan, the former Soviet republic.  While they lived there, they purchased a number of Persian carpets (Azerbaijan borders Iran), which decorate their house now.  One day while I was admiring one of their rugs, my father walked over and said, “You know, the Persian carpetmakers have a tradition:  it can take years to weave the details into these rugs, but they always make one intentional mistake as they work.  The reason is they believe only Allah is perfect, and therefore only Allah has the right to create perfectly.”

I love this, and thought how freeing it would be if we believed this about not just rugs, but our lives.  What if it was downright heretical to expect perfection out of ourselves?  What if we believed that perfection was the purview of gods, not humans?

I explore this question today on the Make Light Show.  Join me as I discuss how to let go of perfectionism, the difference between perfectionism and healthy striving, and how to get happy now.

Click here or the arrow below to listen, and check out the show notes for more about this episode.

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