Thoughts on perfectionism

[trav...@my-deja.com]

Thanks to "Susan on the west coast" from the decluttr list for posting
this (below). It was a *great* reminder for me, and I hope it helps
this group too. (And the piece also quotes some of my favorite writers
to boot!)

grace and peace, helena

Some thoughts on the Serpent that is Perfectionism <g>.

Kathleen Norris, in her book "Amazing Grace" has an entire essay on
perfectionism. She says: "[Perfectionism] is a marked characteristic of
contemporary American culture, a serious psychological affliction that
makes people too timid to take necessary risks and causes them to
suffer when, although they've done the best they can, their efforts
fall short of some imaginary, and usually unattainable, standard.
Internally, it functions as a form of myopia, a preoccupation with
self-image that can stunt emotional growth."

In The Artist's Way, artist/writer Julia Cameron speaks at length on
what Tillie Olsen calls the "knife of the perfectionist attitude in
art". Cameron says: "Perfectionism has nothing to do with getting it
right. [...] It has nothing to do with standards. Perfectionism is a
refusal to let yourself move ahead. It is a loop -- an obsessive,
debilitating closed system thacauses you to get stuck in the details of
what you are [doing] and to lose sight of the whole. [...]
Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst
in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be
good enough ..."

Writer Anne Lamott says: "Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor;
the enemy of the people. It will keep you insane your whole life."

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