BEGIN TO SEE WHAT TRULY MATTERS - WHAT YOU DO WITH IT DEFINES YOU

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I was on the phone with a long-lost friend chatting about good times, bad times, the good old days. Then she suddenly became nostalgic with thoughts unlikely and least expected from her. She was more the type who cared not what happens to the world just as long as she had her favorite crispy pata on the table and later sit down to watch her favorite telenobela.
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She began talking about ......how life is short, how she misses the attention usually poured on her by children now living separate lives, the aches and pains she now feels in her body, the things she failed to achieve in her prime and other regrets, but at the end of her long list sadly resigned herself to her fate and humbly turned grateful to her God. "We all grow old" she added "but each on a different pace and time. Still there are days when you wished time would stop but at that right spot when you felt everything was alright."
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That got me to thinking.....
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Not about that aging thing but about .... "...wished time would stop but at that right spot when you felt everything was alright."
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When is "..that right spot when everything is alright"? Is there a one measure which tells us that? Does it mean being problem-free as hoped for by many? Does it comprise perfection as perceived by passionate devotees of such principle? Does it mean that so-called forever-moment of completeness and satisfaction as promoted by media and the movies?
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Nah I don't think so. I have learned that there is no problem-free life. Problems, as we know it all by now, are there for this one sole purpose -- that of shaping us into our highest physical and divine potential. Neither does perfection exist; perfection does not happen here but at the end of our life journey. And forever moments are illusions created by temporal hopes dreams and aspirations.
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Well, time does not stop for anybody or anything, right or wrong. It just moves along like it's nobody's business that it does. And it brings us along with it .....with our dreams, hopes, expectations in tow. Time does not care if we make it or not but it does expect us to do what we can in the time allotted us to do it. But whether we succeed or fail, are happy or sad, feel good or bad, are fulfilled or rejected --- it's all the same to Time. When it cracks its whip we are expected to move along... with or without our baggage. To where? To wherever it takes us. Time's other name is Life.
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To my good friend, know this..... From the standpoint of age, you begin to see what truly matters.... the things that do and those that don't. You see everything and learn to count your blessings. Consider yourself so very blessed!
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Life and Time is good however you may look at it. It's a gift. What you do with it is what defines you, at twenty-six or sixty-two.

PERFECTION IS ITS OWN END

What’s perfection? It’s an end. Maybe somebody else’s better description of perfection will come to mind but this strikes home for me.

Doesn’t perfection also mean excellence, faultlessness, flawlessness? That’s quite an attractive bunch of words indeed and it seems to have a power of its own the way it pushes many to want it for themselves. At all cost sometimes.

Is it good? I don’t know. People will have their reasons to want it; it’s all a matter of choice. But I think that it’s nothing more than the end of a challenge, a dream, a goal, a journey, growth, learning, ambition, of life.

Perfection when achieved would put an end to countless long hours – days – months or years of toiling over data and reports, the excitement of putting together an impossible project, of hearts pounding wondering if you’ve made it or not.. and so much more. All those things would be all gone because everything would be in its perfect place. What else would there be to do? In short, it ends the chase and everything it would entail for a person after a dream.

What challenge is there left in or with perfection?

Even a perfect human being can be quite a bore. There would be nothing more to discover, to be surprised with, or to be interested in anew. There would be no learning; he (or she) would be so predictable. Even in relationships. And God for him --- would be nothing but a comic book character like superman.

That could be said of things and stuff too. If things we used in our daily lives were perfect, what need would there be for invention, creativity, innovation, vision, imagination, improvement? What need would there be for dreams?

"Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make yourself a happier and more productive person." -- Dr. David M. Burns