The Right Side of the Wrong Tree

How often we compare ourselves to impossible standards of perfection, and how often this comparison produces the kind of contraction, efforting, and pushing that distances us from ourselves and others, and that is the opposite of what we seek. This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about how we might find playful ways of loving the messiness that it is to be human and, from there, respond with the love, care and creativity that our lives call for, with Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website.

Our source for this week is chosen by Lizzie.

Do not give me only perfect

Do not give me only perfect
For there is beauty in what lacks,
The things that are most true
Are filled with flaws, covered in cracks,
So stumble on your sentences,
forget the words you need,
To those parading as perfection
I must say, pay them no heed.
For it is you and your surroundings,
It is you and how you feel,
You and those you love
Which are the things that are most real.
And if that means burnt toast and breakdowns
Know there is strength in salty tears,
Which says “I will not let the world
tell me there’s failure in my fears.”
So be afraid and be forgetful,
Please just be with all your heart,
And if it happens that it’s broken
Then be yourself with every part.

Erin Hanson

Photo by Saira on Unsplash