Her comment took me by surprise.
I have enough self-awareness to know that I am open to constructive criticism, but it never occurred to me that others might not. That's the part I don't understand - if you could improve something about you, why wouldn't you do it?
Now I'm not talking about going to a plastic surgeon to get a face lift (at least not yet, ask me in 20 years; maybe 10), but simple things like improving the way you hold the cello bow, the way you hit a forehand on the tennis court, or the way you approach an eligible bachelor to ask him out on a first date. If you could learn to do things better, why not?
Sure, it isn't always easy. Often very difficult I should day. But still - isn't that what life is about - finding ways to learn, to improve ourselves? The corollary to all this is that it makes my life a bit more challenging - meaning I would never be satisfied with myself and that I would always feel that there is more to achieve, more to improve. That's where the concept of the imperfect human comes in - I need to remind myself that my goal is improvement, not perfection.
Last year I read a book given to me by a colleague at Kaiser. She has a strong interest in hypnotherapy and the concept of reincarnation. An idea proposed by the author is that the purpose of each lifetime is to find and overcome a character flaw. I must admit that it is quite easy to find my character flaw(s), but overcoming it is another story, as it is with most people.
But again, the issue here is change - finding that which needs improvement and addressing it. Maybe that's why I'm so restless... Maybe I'm closer to Nirvana than I know...
...Maybe I need to practice the cello a bit more today.
