Self-exploration vs. self-improvement

Every night before I put my 3-year-old and 4-year-old to bed, I tell them, “You are perfect exactly as you are, and you can do anything you want because you are limitless, and you are perfect as you are.”

We are also inherently perfect as we are- the real us, underneath all our habits, heartbreaks, disappointments, coping mechanisms, beliefs, preferences, and opinions. As human beings, inheriting or developing all these quirks which form our personality is inevitable, which is part of what makes being alive such an enlivening and educational experience.

Since we are both perfect as we are and imperfect at the same time, our job is to learn to stay connected to our perfection, which is love, and compassionately and kindly observe what drives us to do what we do. Through loving observation, we gain our ability to choose, releasing what no longer serves us and trying new things on. This non-judgmental self-exploration can allow us to notice how we feel when we make shifts and changes, allowing us create lives we enjoy and make a difference for others. If we can take this on as a life-long practice with no end goal, destination, or “fix-it” attached, our life can become an adventure versus something to get right.