Progress, not perfection

[Debaucher]

I saw this phrase in a new way the other day. Perhaps this was obvious to others but it just hit me very strong. Like the first time I heard the lords prayer as saying "forgive me, Just like I forgive"



Progress, not perfection! Why?

Because perfection implies an end. It implies you haven't won yet. It is black and white thinking. A perfect way or not. All or nothing. If I strive for perfection and perfection isn't possible then I get frustrated and will possibly give up. The other possibility is that I achieve perfection and then stagnate because I think I am there... done. What else is left to achieve.

Progress is a different mentality. It implies a marching progress. It focuses on the now and not tomorrow. It allows you to celebrate the little victories as achievement of progress.

I once saw progress not perfection as accepting imperfection, today I see it as a montra on my life long spiritual journey. "I trudge the road of happy destiny."

;-)

[sugErspun]

Originally Posted by Debaucher

It focuses on the now and not tomorrow.

Exactly!

[jimhere]

I was at a meeting at a hall here in town several years ago. When the hat was passed for Seventh Tradition, there wasn't much put, contribution wise. Many of the people that go there are homeless and unemployed or unemployable.

Right after Seventh Tradition, the chairperson called on a man who proceeded to lecture us all on the benefits of contributing. Basically he told us what cheapskates we are. Now I know this guy and generally take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Then my friend Larry was called on. He was fifteen years sober at the time and had a tough couple of years. Due to disabilitiy he could no longer work and was homeless at fifteen years of sobriety. Well, Larry let the other guy have it-yelling, swearing, but I heard what he said. Larry gives in other ways than money. He cleans the bathrooms and does a lot of the little things that are beneath some of the more "well" members in that hall.

While Larry was coming unglued, the woman next to me leaned over and said "How can someone fifteen years sober act that way?" I replied "That's nothing. Fifteen years ago he would be throwing chairs and flipping tables, maybe even hit the guy." It's all relative to where a person comes from.

Larry was a few years sober when I came in. He was scary. Hostile, belligerent, anti-social. He had come in to town a few years earlier and some AA members took him and got him de-toxed. He was badly damaged through years of alcoholic drinking and broken by the weight of living that way and alienating all his family and friends.

I see him these days. He is a changed human being. Soft spoken, gentle, and kind. Some qualities I would do well to try and emulate. He works with others out of The Big Book. He inspires me. What a change.
Jim

[bballdad]

the progress...is the perfection...

[JustOneMan]

Absolute Love
Absolute Purity
Absolute Honesty
Absolute Unselfishness

I'll never get there, but it gives me something to strive for.