Lanterns and Imperfection

LANTERNS AND IMPERFECTIONS

Every day is full of uncertainty, each of us moving through seemingly repetitive cycles that seem to never end. We all have experienced joy,
sorrow, success, disappointment, fulfillment, emptiness ... a roller coaster of experiences. It is not a perfect act,  this life we live. 

At 65, I have learned it is not the easy, perfect moments that have given me my greatest insight and gifts, it has been and continues to be the imperfections that have had the greatest value.

What we consider to be perfection often crumbles, like a cake that has been left out on the counter too long. There is tremendous grace in knowing this truth. We lock ourselves into a personal prison of our own making as we do everything in our power to avoid the unknown, to fix loss, avoid pain or stuff our suffering. None of us likes uncertainty or pain;  nor do we like a dark room with no idea where the light switch is located. But given a moment of stillness and the opportunity, there is an inner knowing that will guide us through. In that moment of clarity, we discover a vision for ourselves that is precise, true and dependable.

Our imperfections and the "hits" we take in our life punch holes in the lantern of our understanding. But what if, right here, right now, you learned to accept the holes in your personal "lantern" called your life and instead simply accept yourself and all the events that meet you with grace?  What if you decided that life was on your side? Every ending is a new beginning, every beginning leads to an end, and so the circle of life continues. To light a path, a lantern must have holes that free the light within. To be who we were born to be, to love our true nature and live a full life, the holes must exist. Not only must they exist, they do exist. Accepting them feels frightening and deeply vulnerable. But it is only through vulnerability that the light of our brilliance can shine through to guide us to the next moment of our life.

All those holes serve me now…well, at least if I allow them to serve me. There is no doubt that life is an oxymoron. One day it feels eager to bring me hard lessons but in the next moment, it is willing to take away my challenges. We are, each of us, a cocoon and then a butterfly, not once, but over and over again.

That is the beauty of life. There is a deep, mystical energy that, while it continually asks me who I am and what I want, it also asks me to trust that life itself is on my side, even when I am certain it is not ... until I am. The good news is that I always find my way out of the dark. Not because I'm brilliant but because the sun is dependable.

Let's face it. Living life is unpredictable. Better to see ourselves as perfectly imperfect lanterns full of holes than to live in the darkness of a false perception of a conditioned, unrealistic perfectionism. As each of us learns to unplug the holes in our illusory perfection, just imagine how light the world might be.

As Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream……”

Candace George Conradi
Author, Writer, Founder of Writers Inner Circle
www.writersinnercircle.com
www.candaceconradi.com

The Voice of Opinion v The Voice of Wisdom

Opinion is a funny thing. It changes. I think of all the opinions I have held over the years and I cannot really think of one that has not been changed at some point. I have had opinions about many, many things in my life. It was developed at a young age because I grew up with very, very, very strong women who were not always wise but certainly always opinionated. Couple that with  my father, who by nature held on to his opinion like a drowning man to the side of a boat, I was doomed from the start. The only really good thing that opinion gave me over my youthful exploration was courage.

Then, at some point, my opinion sounded something like "I would NEVER do that..." or "I would NEVER act like that..." or even better, "Why would ANYONE be, think, act, like that..." In the great wisdom of God, I was always led into their shoes (or something like there shoes) so I could understand and see the opposing side of my own "I am sure I am right" opinion. So, for the sake of brevity, let me just say, opinion is personal, always subjective, and while sometimes right, it can also be horribly mistaken.

But wisdom is different. Wisdom comes from a place of experience and insight. It is something, unfortunately, that floats up AFTER you need it, not before. To me, it is the sweet smell of "the fragrance left by the violet when stepped upon." Wisdom ALWAYS, at least for me, carries with it a peacefulness that passes understanding, even in the face of someone else not understanding what you have to say. (I would say every parent on the planet has experienced the Voice of Wisdom being lost on their child.) But wisdom, it is the gold we receive for aging. If we are lucky, we have a vault full of it. If we have bypassed the wisdom, and missed our payday, we can always go back and collect through reflection. I wish that your vault always be full!