Daily Inspriation 1-22-13

"When you stop expecting

people to be perfect,

you can like them

for who they are."

 

-- Donald Miller

As we become frustrated because we expect things and want things to be a certain way and then they are not, we are disappointed in people and even disillusioned when they fall from grace or become something different than you pictured them to be.

I loved looking here and there (I rarely view the news), at the Lance Armstrong affair, I see the frustration, disappointment and disillusionment that a lot of people express about that whole thing. We expected something else. And we found out that he was not only human, but subject to illusions of himself and what he was doing. Yet, nothing is all bad, and in fact all of that aspect of things is just judgment. It's not really him, it is all about us.

Then, I saw another bit today and scanned it briefly. I saw tidbits of the Oprah Winfrey interview and I was impressed that he now openly admits to everything, but frankly, none of this changes my opinion of Lance. I didn't plug into any of it except to think he was out there living his dream, made some choices with consequences, as all choices contain, and now he's living a different dream. It is our own feelings, judgments, frustrations, disappointments that rule us, not the actual events. I'm sure we all have things we've done we're not proud of.

But, this isn't really about Lance. It's about how we put people on pedestals and then expect them to be perfect, or above all the rest. That is where it all comes from. It is our own view that we see others through.

And, here's something more: Consider the quote above with my slight modification. "When you stop expecting yourself to be perfect, you can like yourself for who you are."


Humans Are Just That. Everything Else Is From Our Own Perspective--Which Includes Ourselves. Judge Not.

Spread Some Joy Today--Make a list of people you've put on a pedestal, or have been disappointed in when they fell off. Then allow each one to be as they are without any insistence that they live up to your expectations.