Hello again and welcome.
Today I'd like to explore.
A belief that almost everyone carries.
A belief that appears wise,
Encouraging,
And inspiring.
Become the best version of yourself.
It sounds like a beautiful aspiration,
And perhaps It has encouraged many people.
To live life with greater kindness.
Greater health.
A greater understanding.
But what if this very idea contains the seed of suffering.
To become a better version of oneself.
There must first be the assumption the present one is not enough.
That something is missing.
Something needs fixing.
Something needs improving.
And from that moment,
Life quietly becomes silent.
A project.
A journey towards an imagined future.
Where one will finally feel complete.
Feel whole.
But notice what has happened.
The mind has imagined a future version of itself.
And then it compares this present moment to that imagined version.
Or perhaps it compares this apparent self.
With someone else.
Someone who appears more successful.
More attractive.
More confident.
More fulfilled.
But notice what is actually happening.
Thought is not comparing one living reality with another.
We never compare ourselves to another person's actual lived experience.
We compare our mental story about ourselves with our mental story about someone else.
It is comparing one image with another image.
An image of oneself.
With an image of another.
Yet the image of another person is itself.
Only a copy.
A mental impression created from appearances.
From memories.
From interpretation.
It is not the living reality of that person.
Often what thought compares itself to is only the surface.
The appearance.
The moments that seem to shine.
Whatever thought compares itself to is always temporary.
Every body changes.
Every personality evolves.
Every achievement passes.
Every circumstances.
They come and go.
So what is being compared is never reality itself.
It is simply a copy of one image being measured.
Against a copy of another image.
A perceived future is an imagined reality.
And almost without noticing.
The imagined version begins to judge the one that appears.
To be here now.
The question is,
Who was making this comparison?
Is there actually a separate self moving from one version to another?
Or are there simply thoughts appearing?
Within awareness.
Every achievement.
Promises completion.
Every improvement promises arrival.
Every new goal whispers.
Just a little further.
And perhaps,
For a brief time,
There is satisfaction.
But soon enough,
Another version appears to be waiting.
Another goal,
Another identity.
Another standard.
Another ideal to reach.
The search never quite ends because the one trying to become complete is itself.
An idea.
Thought creates an image of who one should become.
Then it measures this living moment against that image.
And where there is comparison.
Whether with an imagined future or an imagined other.
There is often struggle.
A sense of lack,
Disappointment.
Self-judgment.
The quiet feeling of never quite being enough.
But before that comparison appeared.
What was lacking.
Before the thought,
I should be different.
What was here.
There was breathing.
There was naturally life quietly unfolding.
There was simply this present moment.
Without interpretation.
Is anything actually incomplete?
None of this means anything is wrong with learning,
Nothing wrong with growing,
Nothing wrong with expressing our natural gifts.
Or caring for this body and mind.
Life naturally learns.
It naturally adapts.
It naturally blossoms.
But this is very different from believing there is an incomplete self.
That must finally become worthy of acceptance.
Happiness,
Peace or love.
A flower does not spend its days trying to become a better flower.
It simply unfolds according to its own nature.
Perhaps life has always been doing exactly that.
Through this body,
Through this mind.
Through this and each moment.
What if there has never been a separate self traveling towards perfection?
What if there is only life continually?
Expressing itself in ever-changing ways.
Thought causes progress.
Awareness.
Simply knows.
What is,
Is.
And perhaps what we truly are has never needed improvement.
It has never been broken.
It has never been less than whole.
Only the idea of ourselves appears to need becoming something more.
And perhaps the greatest freedom is not found in becoming the best version of oneself.
But in recognizing that what we truly are was never a version.
Thank you for sharing.
This moment together.
May your day unfold with ease,
Clarity.
And quiet recognition.
The nothing essential.
As ever.
Been missing.
If this contemplation has resonated with you.
Warmly invited and welcomed.
To explore the rest of this growing collection.
Each one.
Is another doorway.
To the same self-recognition.
