“Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” – I Corinthians 3:16.
While on a business consultant strategic visioning circuit many years ago, one of my colleagues alluded to the fact that practice does not make perfect, as we may have been taught as children. He reasoned that practice makes for improvement.
In whatever we do, in whatever sphere of life we are involved, there is always room for improvement. So keep practising. Perfection is the province of the Divine. So when we aim for a Perfect Life it is an aspiration we can never fulfill but a perspective from which we can reach out to improve our lot in life.
Last week there was an article in the popular DailyOM website published by Madisyn Taylor and entitled “Overachieving and Overreaching – A Sign of Imbalance”.
The author notes:
“Sometimes when we don’t feel good enough, we create imbalance by overachieving or needing to be the best at something. Overachievers are people who have achieved but still feel the need to do more, creating an imbalance in their lives. People who exhibit this behaviour may be trying to compensate for feelings of insecurity and doubts about their worth. They may be chasing unresolved issues from their past into the present, or they might not be looking at their lives as a whole, but judging themselves based only on one aspect of their being. If this is a word that we’ve heard used with respect to our choices and lifestyle, it is worth examining in order to balance our lives for a more rewarding experience.
“If we find that we cannot allow ourselves to experience and enjoy the present moment, putting pleasure off into some distant future, it may be a sign that we are being driven to achieve more than is truly necessary. Pushing ourselves beyond the point of exhaustion, or to the exclusion of important people in our lives, robs us of true and meaningful joy. Once we make the connection to the eternal part of us, it can nourish us and allow our priorities to shift from chasing after an elusive feeling to being fully present in the moment so that we can live our lives in the now.
“Sometimes we need to look to those we love and admire in order to realize what we value about life. We can take time to note what we like about others, and then turn the mirror to reflect the light of those same words and feelings toward ourselves. It can be quite a revelation to see ourselves in this nourishing light. When we can put the energy that we’ve been devoting to a phantom sense of achievement into the truly satisfying aspects of our lives, we can restore the balance between our inner and outer worlds and experience true joyful peace”.
The above words are still resonating in my mind and have served as a reality check for me!
My own life is now driven by 80 affirmations of abundance from professional, financial, spiritual, relationship, philosophical and health perspectives. To the extent that I continue to focus on improvement (it is not an easy task) from each of these perspectives, I can aspire to be as close to the Perfect Life as is humanly possible.
In the last week, I have been able to reflect on my blessings which have been many. I now share some of them with you.
From the professional perspective, I was engaged in a Skype discussion with Guyanese Dr. Owen Carryl who practises in the US and beyond as an Open Innovation Expert. He broadened my knowledge of Innovation and its importance as a business strategy.
I gave a guest lecture to MBA students at Arthur Lok Jack School of Business in Trinidad about a year ago. The participants were entrepreneurs in the making and existing entrepreneurs. My mission was to introduce the participants to the CBET Shepherding Model™ and the ManOBiz Matrix™ shepherding tool. There was one participant who wanted me to extend the ManOBiz Matrix business systems from five to six to introduce Innovation as a sixth business system.
I did not yield because I had already included Innovation in the Construct of an Enterprise as the activity which converts a business idea into a product or service for sale. Time will tell whether Owen will influence a change as we continue our dialogue in search of possible collaboration opportunities.
Incidentally, Owen introduced me to another innovation: the International Association of Godpreneurs in Duncanville, Texas.
From the financial perspective, as more and more people, globally, understand the efficacy of the CBET Shepherding Model one can feel oneself gradually emerging from the avalanche of austerity that has engulfed me over the last two years.
Spiritually, I still seek the idyllic, serene and tranquil setting of my spiritual blanket and listen to the whispers from heaven.
Relationships-wise, I had the opportunity to bond with two of my grandchildren for an afternoon last week. This is relatively rare since they live abroad, but an indeed rich experience notwithstanding the fact that part of the time was spent behind 3D glasses watching the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). The children’s other grandfather, later in the evening, was heard to whisper that he was glad that at least one grandfather was up to bonding with the children in this way.
Philosophically, I am inspired by my belief that my potential is limitless and health-wise, I try to listen carefully to the advice of my nutritional and exercise manager and act upon it.
Let us invoke the Spirit of God in us and aspire to balance and the perfect life.
Dr. Basil Springer GCM is Change-Engine Consultant, Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc. – CBET. Columns are archived at: www.cbetmodel.org and www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com.