Spiritual Progress For Perfectionists by Medium Terry Hall

Transcript

Being right versus making progress. Are you hindering your development by judging yourself harshly? When helping a child learn to walk, do you criticize their falls? Why judge your mind when learning control?

A message from my Spirit Teacher, Gene.

OpEd: Being a recovering perfectionist, I am my worst enemy. I have zero room to make any mistakes at all. When I’m at my worst, I can only hear criticism for others. My perfectionistic mind appends a “but” to the end of any compliment I receive. Quite frankly, it’s a very tiring way to walk one’s path.

An untrained mind is very much like a two-year-old child always asking why or saying no. When we begin to train and develop it, we meet a lot of resistance. Why and no seem to impede our progress. Then begins the fascination with everything that is NOT what we’re asking it to do. Quickly followed by boredom, sleepiness and outright refusal to be controlled.

After the transition from crawling to walking, our unruly mind is more like an untrained horse. It has some basic skills, but now we need to train and develop it to do what we will have it do, on command. Our ego then becomes the deterrent.

Discipline is required to master anything. The question is when we’re mastering mental control do we use carrots or sticks? Awareness of our self-love and self-acceptance informs our practice. We are harsh judges or delusional. Walking the middle path is the best practice. Seeing your progress objectively in a way that works to attain your goals.

Keep a journal of your practices, progress, self-talk, and results. Recording your efforts help you objectify your progress.