You're More Perfect Than A Banana
Bananas are often called the perfect food. They're healthy, delicious, and (best of all) because of their rind you never have to worry about who was touching it. But did you ever notice that bananas are green when they arrived at your grocery? Logic would dictate that bananas are picked green so they can ripen en route to your store, but that is incorrect. I'll tell you why in a moment...
Bananas may or may not be perfect, but you definitely are. Before you doubt me, do you know the difference between perfection and perfectionism? Here it is in a nutshell: perfection is what you are (warts and all) while perfectionism is what you think you ought to be.
Perfection is wonderful. Perfection is vital, robust, and lots of fun. Perfection is full of surprises because it includes inconsistencies, contradictions, and imperfection. When you allow yourself to experience your perfection, you are confidently aware of your abundance of resources because you possess everything necessary to get the job done.
Perfectionism, however, is no fun at all. Perfectionism is deadly serious, it is a bottomless pit that excludes imperfections and contradictions. When you are lulled by the lie of perfectionism, you are desperately aware that you are lacking the resources necessary to get the job done.
So how do you stop perfectionism and accept your perfect self?
Look to my Fun Commandment, Laugh With Yourself. The best antidote to perfectionism is the willingness to laugh with yourself because your humor nature stamps out perfectionism, while reinforcing your perfection. And laughing with yourself is an effective way to call your humor nature into frequent action.
Of course, you must remember that laughing with yourself does not mean you should humiliate or demean yourself. Willingness to laugh with yourself is the very opposite of self denigration because it is a way of affirming that you are worthy of respect and consideration. Not in spite of, but because of your inconsistencies and contradictions.
Laughing with yourself is a statement that your imperfections are a valuable part of your perfection.
And, by the way, bananas are not picked green so they can ripen on the way to your store. They are picked green because they become inedible if allowed to ripen on the stalk. You, however, are perfect no matter how far along you are in the ripening process!
Cliff Kuhn, M.D.
The Laugh Doctor
"it all starts with a SMILE"
The Natural Medicine of Humor
"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"
The Blog Directory
Bananas may or may not be perfect, but you definitely are. Before you doubt me, do you know the difference between perfection and perfectionism? Here it is in a nutshell: perfection is what you are (warts and all) while perfectionism is what you think you ought to be.
Perfection is wonderful. Perfection is vital, robust, and lots of fun. Perfection is full of surprises because it includes inconsistencies, contradictions, and imperfection. When you allow yourself to experience your perfection, you are confidently aware of your abundance of resources because you possess everything necessary to get the job done.
Perfectionism, however, is no fun at all. Perfectionism is deadly serious, it is a bottomless pit that excludes imperfections and contradictions. When you are lulled by the lie of perfectionism, you are desperately aware that you are lacking the resources necessary to get the job done.
So how do you stop perfectionism and accept your perfect self?
Look to my Fun Commandment, Laugh With Yourself. The best antidote to perfectionism is the willingness to laugh with yourself because your humor nature stamps out perfectionism, while reinforcing your perfection. And laughing with yourself is an effective way to call your humor nature into frequent action.
Of course, you must remember that laughing with yourself does not mean you should humiliate or demean yourself. Willingness to laugh with yourself is the very opposite of self denigration because it is a way of affirming that you are worthy of respect and consideration. Not in spite of, but because of your inconsistencies and contradictions.
Laughing with yourself is a statement that your imperfections are a valuable part of your perfection.
And, by the way, bananas are not picked green so they can ripen on the way to your store. They are picked green because they become inedible if allowed to ripen on the stalk. You, however, are perfect no matter how far along you are in the ripening process!
Cliff Kuhn, M.D.
The Laugh Doctor
"it all starts with a SMILE"
The Natural Medicine of Humor
"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"
The Blog Directory
posted by Cliff Kuhn, M.D. at 9:33 PM
1 Comments:
My good friend, Steve Wilson, of The World Laughter Tour asked me to post this comment:
A newspaper report about me once remarked that with the world in such a tense post-9/11 state, it was a tough time to be in the
laughter business, and it noted, "but Steve Wilson is undeterred."
Well, that's right.
Ballast for the laughter `movement' comes often from those who
express restrained, sensible, grown-up cautions. Often, perhaps
traditionally, they are ones with power of the purse or gate-keepers
of the worlds into which we would like to try infusing more
laughter. And often, it seems they are dominant. But there needs to
be room for both interests, so we must remain undeterred.
I am not at the children's table anymore. Of course, I can sit at
the children's table if I want to, but I don't have to accept being
relegated there by `sensible, cautious' grown-ups. I am just as
serious as they are, but having more, and more elated fun. And, I
can tell by their laughter, that many of them appreciate my bringing
fun and joy to the grown-up's table, too.
In a recent magazine interview I was asked, "How does laughter heal
a person?" Now, depending on your mood or inclination, you might
hear that question in at least two ways. On the one hand, as a smug
challenge coming from someone who finds the idea dreadful and
unthinkable: "Dear me! How in the world could you ever believe that
laughter could possibly heal something?" Or, on the other hand, you
might hear the question as coming from a frankly curious person,
excited to be let in on the secret: "Quickly! Tell me more. This is
fascinating."
In the face of such questions, I find support for my reply in Norman
Cousins and Martin Seligman, and I expect to find others, too, who
will bolster the laughter-as-healing idea. Cousins says, "To the
extent laughter or any of the positive emotions, can block panic,
depression, despair, we have a therapeutic ally." Seligman astutely
points out, "Treatment is not just fixing what is broken; it is
nurturing what is best." (I use the present tense here because to me
these voices are still very much speaking to us today.)
To the sincerely curious and excited questioner, who is not
challenging, but really wants to know about this possibility, my
reply is, "Wonderful! Come and sit by me. I would be more than happy
to tell you about my adventures in laughter land."
Steve Wilson, Founder & President
World Laughter Tour
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