It’s a Daily Effort

Becoming the person you want to become is a daily effort and one that extends a lifetime.  It’s not as though one day you wake up and go “I’ve arrived! I am now the perfect person.  My work here is done.”  And if you do wake up thinking that you have a whole other set of problems 🙂

The road to perfection feels like a never-ending one, but it is important to recognize that none of us will actually become our perfected selves during this lifetime; so instead we should focus our attention on the pursuit of perfection, rather than the achievement of it.  And we should grade ourselves based on our progress of our pursuit rather than beating ourselves up for the lack of achieving it.  You have to remind yourself each day that it is your progress that truly counts.

We need to try to wake up each day with the desire to do better today then yesterday, the desire to right our wrongs, to obtain more knowledge, to gain more wisdom, to be kinder and to serve more. We need to improve ourselves a little more every day.  If we can do that consistently then we are going in the right direction.

Some days it’s harder than others to do that.  I don’t know about you, but some days I feel exactly like the person who uttered this prayer:

“Dear God:   So far today I have done all right.  I haven’t gossiped, haven’t lost my temper, haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overly indulgent. But in a few minutes, Lord, I am going to get out of bed, and from then on, I am probably going to need a lot more help.”

When I read that quote I laughed out loud in a room by myself (which is the ultimate sign of something being hilarious when it causes you to laugh out loud by yourself!).  I laughed because I wake up feeling like that most days.  I have the desire to do good but the fear of being sidetracked by grumpiness, impatience with others, procrastination, and letting trivial things distract me from the things that really matter.  And so the only way to start the day off right is to get down on my knees and say a quick prayer to Heavenly Father to let him know that my desire is to do well today and to ask Him to help me in that effort.  Then I have to stand up and do my part by keeping my attitude in check, which I have already learned is a direct result of keeping my thoughts in check.  Then I try and keep motivational quotes and sayings in visible places to serve as reminders throughout my day and I set goals for what specific things I want to accomplish that day.

Last but not least, I try to keep everything in proper perspective.  For me to be my best self each day, I simply cannot allow myself to worry about my lack of ability to achieve perfection – rather I must put my entire focus on my pursuit of perfection and how well I am progressing on that front.  For us to improve we can’t let ourselves live in a constant state of being discouraged and disappointed in who we are.  We have to accept ourselves for who we are at this moment and then simply decide to improve ourselves from that point forward every day a little more.  You can’t change the past but you can certainly fix your present, and fixing your present is the best way to create the future you want for yourself.

Never forget that it’s a daily effort.  Never stop trying.  Never give up.  Just wake up, say that prayer, and hit the ground running with a big smile on your face 🙂

Have a great day!
~Amy

 

 

 

 

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