Practice Makes Peace with Imperfect

O’Keeffe Country 8 min. finger painting.
When you do something over and over again – daily, weekly, monthly and the year, you tend to get pretty creative about the rules. Standards mean about as much as a cold bubble bath.
Perfectionism, at least my 2nd grade version of it was a pain when cranking out a painting in a New Mexico lightening/hailstorm, no electricity or matches. I was stubbornly determined to prove that no matter what I had claim on at least 30 minutes of my day to paint. In this case I remembered that I had purchased some matches that day in the bookstore because they had a cool etching on the cover.
I lit a candle, calmed the bunnies and finger painted what I remembered of an image of O’Keeffe country in a magazine. I posted by iPhone before midnight and slept peacefully. I didn’t really know what it looked like until the next day online. I remember working fast and feeling nervous. Electricity in the air, the unfamiliar earth trembling, my elderly rabbits freaked. It seemed a bit silly at the time to hold fast to such stubbornness. As I look back I feel a bit thrilled and romanced by the aliveness of the moment.
As I look back now on the project of painting daily as a whole, I realize practice gave me creative license to rewrite my relationship to perfectionism — to make peace with it by practicing awkwardness daily. Perfection, it turns out has a lot of room for redefinition.
I lOVE the finger painting and your post.
Judith – thank you so much for posting this. Very nice to know. ; D
Niya, I love this post (and the picture). What a great description of the feelings of being stubborn about a healthy practice, no matter what. I’m sure even the bunnies were calmer because you were calm and focused.
Thank you so much Deborah. Always love your presence here. Yes, bunnies do respond that way. Animals in general I think. No matter what was the mantra. And it is infecting this year too. Thanks again!
Beautiful post. I have learned so much from your practice. And your freedom. 🙂
Sherry,
I LOVE that you stopped by to leave a comment. Thank you. And YOU learn from me? Wow. ; D